The Adventures of Soma
by DarkFonist
Summary: The succubus glitch as a plot device. Can Alucard retain his sanity long enough to prevent anything particularly bad from happening? -Contains spoilers about Soma, Wind, and the end of Julius Mode, among possibly other things-
1. Ch 1  DoS

The trio stood before the entrance to the castle's throne room. It was only natural that they would find Soma there, where he was no doubt waiting for them.

"Are you ready?" Julius asked simply. He received a nod from Yoko and Alucard in turn. There was nothing more to wait for then. The Belmont led the group forward and approached the throne. Each of the hunters could feel the evil power radiating from the youth, which manifested itself as a fiery red aura.

"Soma..." Julius could not help but mutter. It was a sad state of affairs – that things had come to this. He had not deserved such a fate.

"What's up?" a voice called from behind him. In surprise, the trio turned to see the familiar white-cloaked teen strolling merrily towards them.

"What?" Alucard gasped in surprise, glancing back at the throne to confirm what he had just seen.

A curious look on his face, Soma leaned to the side a bit to look between the Belmont and the dhampir.

"What the – there's another me?" Soma exclaimed, at the same time as Julius shouted: "Holy cross! There are two Somas?"

There was the sound of a wine glass shattering, and a cry as the Dark Lord Soma summoned Gaibon to his side.

"Come, worthless fools!" his voice echoed ominously through the room as his aura flared and his feet lifted off the ground. A blue column of light enveloped him and his insane laughter filled the room.

Thinking quickly, Alucard spoke. "We've no time to talk. Now, we fight," he commanded. Luckily, the others were willing to put aside their confusion for now and settle things with the normal Soma later.

The fight was surprisingly short and anti-climactic. It turns out it's pretty difficult to lose when Soma had summoned possibly twenty different familiars, was surrounded by fireballs, had scythes flying every direction and was swinging the Claimh Solais faster than Alucard had thought possible.

Strangely, however, the castle did not crumble upon the Dark Lord's defeat. But the concerns of our hunters were lying elsewhere.

"Soma," Julius spoke first. "How are you here? This should be impossible." The Belmont shook his head in disbelief. "You had become the Dark Lord, and yet..."

Soma seemed just as confused as the others. "I don't know. I was trying out some tricks with the souls I had collected and somehow ended up here..." Alucard narrowed his eyes slightly at that. "In...a future, I guess. I don't really understand it myself..."

"Wait. You said you were using your souls..." Alucard began, considering what Soma had said. It seemed that somehow Soma had traveled here from the past. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Um, well...it was nothing really special..." Soma seemed hesitant to talk about it.

"Soma," Yoko said, with the feeling of speaking to a younger brother. "This is important. What you've done could have serious complications."

"All right, all right, I get it," Soma relented. "I think I should show you. Come over here to the wall." He walked up to one of the walls of the throne room and the others followed.

"There doesn't seem to be anything strange about this wall," Julius commented.

"No, it's not the wall," Soma said. "Okay, watch this. I'm not sure how it will look, but..." From inside of his tailcoat he produced a small dagger of some type. He turned to the others. "It involves using magic power to utilize the full power of the weapon you are using. Like this dagger."

Soma faced along the wall and the others felt a surge of energy. In a flash, Soma was suddenly several feet forward, cutting at the air in front of him, before returning to his original position just as quickly.

Both Julius and Yoko had taken a step back at the sudden maneuver. Alucard, naturally, just stood there looking unfettered.

"That's...impressive." Julius said, though somewhat hesitantly. "I haven't seen anything like that before."

Alucard, however, nodded. He understood the technique well, having used it himself in the Alucard Sword's 'mirror slash.' It was not something he had done often, however, and he had certainly not needed it in Julius's company. "The technique is similar to using holy power to cover the Vampire Killer with flame," the dhampir explained.

Julius's eyebrows went up. "I didn't know that could be done," he said simply, looking at Alucard.

* * *

_Far away, many years ago..._

"_What's wrong? Richter?" Maria asked, a questioning look on her face._

_The Belmont shook his head. "It's a bit strange, but...I just had a feeling that one of my descendant's was going to forget that you can charge the Vampire Killer with fire."_

_

* * *

_

Alucard looked down. "Hmph. Perhaps you had better study your ancestors' writing a little harder, then..." he muttered.

"But that doesn't explain how you traveled through time," Yoko deftly deflected the conversation back to the more pressing topic.

"Right," Soma nodded. "The souls of succubi have an...interesting effect. It's very short term, but they give a sort of...vampiric bloodlust. And I've found that I time the critical attack just as the effect fades, something very strange happens."

"What?" Julius asked. "You travel through time?"

"No, the technique is interrupted and I end up standing where the dash attack ended."

"How does that relate to how you got here?" Yoko asked.

"Well," the white-clad teen started. "If I use it so that I end up on the other side of certain walls, strange things happen..."

"Like traveling through time?" Julius prompted.

"Yeah, I guess. I also got some other strange things." Soma held out a bottle of holy water with the Belmont name engraved on it and Alucard's trademark sword.

"Where did you get those?" Julius exclaimed, searching his pockets for a producing his own holy water. "Wait, I still have mine..."

"And I as well," Alucard said, holding out the Alucard Sword.

"It's really strange. It's hard to describe what happens." Soma said, then seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, right." He approached Julius and Yoko and produced a tome of some kind.

"Soma, what is that...?" Alucard started, sensing a strange aura from the book, but had no response as the teen opened the book. There was a tremendous flash of light and a wind came forth from the tome that threatened to pull Alucard in. The light faded much slower than it had come, and when Alucard regained his vision Julius and Yoko had vanished while Soma was getting out a cell phone, of all things.

"Soma, what did you do?" the dhampir demanded, but Soma waved him off as he made a call on the device.

"It's Soma," he said into the phone. He started to continue but stopped, seemingly cut off by the voice on the other end. "Yes, yes. I got them. And in time for the DLC too." There was another pause as Soma listened to whomever he was speaking with. "What do you mean it 'took forever'? Who cares if they're complaining?" A slight pause. "I'm in the game to begin with, anyway, and that's all that matters." Not even waiting for a response, he hung up the phone and turned to the wall.

"Soma, wait!" Alucard called. "You need to explain what's going on, now!"

There was a slight pause as Soma pointedly ignored Alucard, and then a red aura flashed around Soma. He released a primal cry and dashed forward, but just as he struck the wall the dagger was in his hand and he flashed out of sight.

There was a longer pause, and Alucard feared he knew how Soma's trick worked. Alucard himself had done something similar before, a long time ago. Soma had traveled through space and time, as well as acquired one-of-a-kind artifacts with what he had done, and Alucard suspected that it had probably affected his personality in some way as well.

Of his options, Alucard knew what he had to do. He needed to follow Soma, and stop him, before things got out of hand any further.

The dhampir produced a small card, with flashed and turned into a large floating sword; a familiar. Alucard and the sword begin to draw in dark energy from around them, preparing a spell of some kind.

Suddenly, the blade flew up just behind Alucard and began rotating, tracing a glyph in the air. "Gather brother soul blades!" the blade spoke in a strange voice.

As this happened, Alucard transformed into a bat and began gathering energy again. Just before the spell completed, the dhampir turned the energy into a forward dash – directly at the wall. But he did not collide with it; just as Soma had before him, the form vanished as he touched it, along with the sword familiar.


	2. Ch 2 PoR

Alucard landed with a crash on the white stone floor, but used his vampiric abilities to avoid any heavy injuries, falling only to his knees. Looking up, he saw a familiar coat. "Soma?"

"Arikado? How did you follow me?" The teen turned around, surprised.

"That's not important. You need to stop this." Alucard stood.

"What? Why?" Soma asked, genuine confusion on his face.

"What you are doing could end very badly," the dhampir said gravely, stepping towards Soma. "You've already produced several items from what may as well have been the ether, and have very possibly disrupted our timeline."

Soma interrupted. "But that's not the _real_ timeline. There's no way I'd become the Dark Lord."

"Even having gone through what you have, you're still going to make that argument?" Alucard responded quickly. "Just trust me, and stop. This will not end well."

Soma gave Alucard a look, then turned around. "You worry to much, Arikado."

"Soma! You're being a fool!" Alucard said as he followed after the boy. Soma, however, seemed uninterested in what Alucard had to say.

"I think–" Soma started to reply, but stopped when he felt something strange. Alucard obviously sensed it as well, as he had stopped and was glancing around. The pair's vision was drawn to the center of the room when they saw an unearthly blue aura grow out of the ground which slowly formed into a human.

He seemed to be a ghost, if the color and transparency of his form were any indication. He was wearing a long coat of some kind similar to Julius, though he accented it with an interesting looking hat.

The ghost's first words were not what the two expected. "Alucard?"

Soma reacted first. "You know him?"

"I do not recognize you," Alucard said carefully. "What is your name?"

"It has been a long time, I suppose," the spirit said. "Eric."

"Lecarde?" Alucard finished, seeming to know who he was speaking of. "So it is you."

The ghost nodded. "You can call me 'Wind', however. It is my name now."

Alucard was not going to pry, but Soma certainly was. "Why? That's a silly name if you ask me."

"Oh?" Wind replied, and as if to prove Soma wrong, a strong breeze blew through the room, causing the trio's cloaks to flap wildly for a few moments. Soma quickly took back what he said.

"In any case," the spirit continued. "I know Alucard, but not you."

"Soma, the rei–" the teen started, but was cut off by the dhampir next to him.

"That's enough," Alucard said, and thankfully Soma didn't simply try to talk over him. "It feels as though we are still in Castlevania," he mentioned. "Is that correct?"

Wind nodded. "But what do you mean when you say 'still'?" Soma looked to Alucard as if to say, 'figure this one out yourself'.

"I think it would be best to not speak of it unless it becomes necessary," the dhampir stated.

"I see." Before Wind could say any more, all three sensed something else. "Jonathan and Charlotte," he said quickly. "If you don't want to explain then perhaps you had best hide for now."

Thinking quickly, Alucard grabbed Soma's arm to get his attention, and gestured quickly towards the ceiling. Transforming into a bat, the dhampir found a suitable place to hang where he would not be discovered easily. Seeing what he had done, Soma transformed as well and followed his lead.

From above, the pair watched two others enter the room. One was a red-clad boy and the other was a blue-clad girl; Jonathan and Charlotte, based on what Wind had said. Both looked to be around Soma's age. The most interesting part, however, was that they were carrying cakes of all kinds.

"Wind," Jonathan said as he set down his cakes. "We brought the cakes."

"Good," the spirit replied, and Alucard had to wonder: Why was Wind making them get cakes, of all things? "Here, take this as a reward." He handed Jonathan a rainbow elixir.

Charlotte looked at Wind questioningly. "Do you need the cakes for anything?" Soma and Alucard were wondering this as well.

"No." The ghost shook his head. "You can keep them."

"Okay then," Jonathan replied, his tone revealing how strange the request seemed. "So, do you have anything else?"

Soma and Alucard could not see Wind's face from where they were perched, but Jonathan's next comment made it very obvious.

"Wh...Why are you smiling like that...?" Jonathan murmured, though it was loud enough to hear. He leaned over to Charlotte and whispered, "That looks really creepy..."

"Actually, yes," Wind said. "I want you to demonstrate your ability to work together. Show me the Dual Crush 'Divine Storm'."

If he had not been in bat form, Alucard probably would have made a choking sound of some kind. The dhampir thought quickly, trying to figure a way out of this situation.

"Oh," Jonathan looked relieved. "That's easy. Charlotte?" He turned to the mage, who nodded at him. "Let's do this!"

"Divine Storm!" the two shouted in unison. Holy water rained from the stone ceiling, leaving no location untouched. Naturally, Jonathan, Charlotte, and Wind were unhurt by the attack. But Soma and Alucard were both vulnerable to the effects of the technique.

To Soma's credit, he was actually able to take two hits from the attack before he lost his concentration and returned to human form. Luckily for him, his fall to the floor caused both Jonathan and Charlotte to stop in surprise.

Next to Soma's kneeling form, some mist reformed into Alucard. "I had thought you might have become more mature by now...Wind." the dhampir commented, giving the ghost a hard stare.

"What the?" Jonathan cried out in surprise. "Who are you?" The hunter and the mage next to him both readied their weapons.

"Don't worry," Wind said. "They aren't your foes." Jonathan and Charlotte relaxed slightly at his words, but still watched the others carefully.

"But they don't seem human..." Charlotte said curiously, almost to herself.

Soma looked about to say something disparaging to Wind, but Alucard was able to speak first. "You are observant," the dhampir commented. "Soma and I...we both possess a measure of dark power. But we are not allied with the forces of the castle." Alucard tried to choose his words carefully.

"Perhaps you could elaborate on the circumstances of your arrival?" Wind suggested.

Alucard, however, was still reluctant. "I told you that it would be best if I did not speak of it."

Soma finally stood, adjusting his now slightly tattered jacket. "We're already here, aren't we Arikado? Why not just explain what happened?"

"Arikado..." Charlotte mumbled, almost quiet to hear.

"Huh?" Jonathan noticed what she said, however. "What is it?"

"It's probably nothing," she said. "The name just sounded familiar, is all."

Jonathan looked at the mage curiously. "Really? What do you mean?"

"It sounds similar to Alucard, the name used by Dracula's half-vampire son when he aided the Belmont clan in 1476 and 1797," Charlotte said, reciting from memory.

Alucard and Wind were careful enough not to react, but unfortunately for them, Soma wasn't really interested in that.

"Hey, you're famous, Arikado!" the teen commented in a joking manner.

Jonathan's eyes widened. "You mean...he is Alucard?"

The dhampir sighed. "I suppose I cannot deny it now," he looked to Soma as if to tell him that this was his fault.

"Wait," Jonathan started speaking after a slight silence. "So why haven't we seen you in the castle before? And how do you know Wind?"

"I once met him when he was young. And as for the first...as I said, it would probably be best if we did not go in details." Alucard said. As he should have expected, it seemed the two were going to ask the obvious, 'Why?'

"Why?" Jonathan asked.

"Jonathan," Charlotte said in a slightly patronizing tone. "He just said he would prefer not to talk about it."

"Finally," Alucard sighed to himself. "Someone with some sense..." Soma and Wind's eyebrows went up at that comment.

"Wow," the teen commented. "I never thought I would hear you say something like that, Arikado."

At this, the dhampir actually looked a bit surprised. He suspected that the effects of Soma's...'technique' had begun to reach him as well.

"In any case," he started. "I think we had best leave as soon as possible." He wanted to get this over with quickly, and then hopefully he could try to force Soma to give up on experimenting with his 'technique'. He turned to Jonathan and Charlotte. "Could you escort us to a safe location elsewhere in the castle?"

"Huh? Why would you–" Jonathan started to ask, but was interrupted by Soma.

"Hey, Arikado. I wanted to explore this castle a bit," the teen said.

"That would be ill-advised, Soma," the dhampir replied.

"Heh," Soma chuckled. "Since when have I listened to what you have to say?" With that, he began strolling towards the exit of the room. "Come on, guys."

Jonathan and Charlotte paused for a moment, looking to Alucard. The dhampir just sighed and shook his head. "Please, lead on..."

"Which direction?" Soma asked as the other three descended the staircase that led from the Wind's room.

"Well, the nearest place would be straight across, over there," Charlotte indicated a similar exit on the other side of the area.

"Whoa, what's this?" Soma asked as they entered the room. He was talking, of course, about the large painting hovering the center of the room.

"Soma, let's not get caught up in th–" Alucard began to speak, but Soma had already approached the picture frame.

"Wait!" called Charlotte, but Soma had already touched the painting and had been sucked in.

"What?" Alucard could not help but exclaim.

"These are magic paintings created by Brauner, a vampire artist in control of the castle right now," Charlotte explained quickly. "When you enter them, you are transported in the world within the painting; Jonathan and I have been defeated the evil creatures within them in order to lessen Brauner's hold on the energy of the castle."

"That's a pretty good summary, there," Jonathan noted.

Alucard had more questions, but was willing to hold his tongue. "I see. But in any case, we have to follow Soma."

"Right," Jonathan agreed, and the three of them approached the painting and entered as Soma had. The experience was disorienting for Alucard, but he managed to get through it and found himself sitting on a street of some kind; just like the painting had shown.

He noticed Soma in the distance, running towards a building.

"Soma!" he called, but the teen wasn't listening to him.

"Let's go!" Jonathan said, and the three began to make their way after Soma. With Soma defeating most of the monsters, Alucard hoped they would be able to catch him before he got too far into...wherever they were.

"Soma! Stop!" Alucard shouted as they finally began to near him after entering the second building in a row.

"Hey," Soma started, seemingly ignoring Alucard though he had actually stopped. "Why didn't you break this wall here?"

"What are you–" Charlotte started, confused. She was cut off when swung the Claimh Solais into the floor in front of him and it fell apart, revealing a hole in the ground.

"How did you know about that?" Jonathan asked curiously.

Soma didn't respond, instead simply turning to look at the hunter, his eyes flashing unnaturally for a moment. Before any response could be made, he hopped down into the passageway.

The four of them explored the small area, with Soma finding another breakable wall almost immediately. Alucard was somewhat reluctant to waste their time here, but even Jonathan and Charlotte had become interested about the area Soma had found.

"What?" Soma asked rhetorically, nearly laughing at the prospect. "A cream pie? That wouldn't be useful at all!" He was rewarded for that comment with a cream pie in the face courtesy of Jonathan. Jonathan and Charlotte chuckled at that, but Alucard was very carefully stoic.

"What? You..." Soma looked very annoyed at that, and in a flash Jonathan had received a plate of beef curry in the face as well.

"Oh, you want to fight, then?" Jonathan looked like he was getting riled up. "Curry is obviously so much better!" he added sarcastically.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Soma said, though the impact of the statement seemed reduced as he was wiping pie off his face at the time. "Come on, Alucard, help me take him!" He looked to the dhampir for assistance.

Alucard, however, shook his head in exasperation. "No, you can deal with this yourself. Perhaps you'll even get yourself killed and I can stop worrying about what you'll be doing next." The dhampir stepped back, heading towards the entrance of the room where he made it clear he was going to be waiting.

"Heh, you still going to go through with this?" Jonathan taunted.

"Of course," Soma said, smirking. "I could take you both on, no problem."

"Then try!" Jonathan said, leaping at Soma, his blade at the ready. Soma had a straight sword in his hand in seconds, and began to parry the hunter's attacks. Soma wasn't particularly hard-pressed to defend himself, but he did have Charlotte to worry about.

"Fireball!" she called, and three of the spell's namesakes spiraled towards Soma, who had to shove Jonathan backwards so he could evade the attack. Invoking the soul of Aguni, Soma quickly put his hand to the ground and launching a wave of the flame at the mage before bringing his weapon up to block Jonathan again.

"Maybe you shouldn't have started a fight 2-on-1," Jonathan suggested as he tried to knock Soma's blade aside.

"Thunderbolt!" Charlotte chanted again, and Soma was unable to disengage quickly enough from Jonathan to avoid the spell.

Soma was knocked backwards by the hit, and Jonathan stayed back. "You still want to keep this up?" Soma knew he was at a disadvantage, but what Jonathan said had given him an idea...he just needed to turn the odds in his favor.

Climbing to his feet, the white-clad teen invoked the Buer soul just as he approached Jonathan, delivering a solid hit from the hilt of his sword just as the fire causing Jonathan to abandon his guard attempt. Casting the fire away, Soma found the presence of the Warg soul within him.

"Roar!" he shouted, and the force of the soul's attack sent Jonathan flying into the far wall behind Charlotte.

"Jonathan!" she called, but Soma had already approached her with the speed of a Black Panther. His eyes were glowing an ominous red, and a similarly colored aura floated about his body.

"Don't be worried about him," Soma said, his voice sounding uncharacteristically sweet. "Wouldn't you much rather be fighting for me?" Their faces were merely inches apart, and Charlotte felt a blush growing hot on her cheeks. But she could not find the strength in herself to move, to attack him, or to do anything. His eyes were so enchanting...

"Yes, of course..." she said, her voice soft.

"Then fight for me, my lady," Soma commanded, his voice seeming to echo in her mind as he stepped back.

"As you wish, Master Soma..." Charlotte said dreamily as she turned to face Jonathan, who had only just gotten to his feet.

"Charlotte, what are you–" he started but was interrupted.

"Acidic Bubbles!" the mage shouted, and Jonathan was forced to produce a whip to block the projectiles.

"Charlotte! Stop–!"

"Ice Needle!"

Jonathan jumped sideways to avoid the attack and looked at Soma, who was simply standing beside Charlotte smiling. He didn't want to hit Charlotte, but he had to figure out some way to stop whatever Soma had done to her. It was just like that...one fight, only the opposite way around.

Jonathan started advancing forward, leaping over a Nightmare Charlotte fired at him towards Soma, who was drawing his sword again in preparation for Jonathan's attack. However, Jonathan invoked the power of the Stone of Flight and performed a mid-air kick, catching Soma off-guard.

The blow sent Soma skidding backwards, but Jonathan had no chance to capitalize on the opening as he had to dodge some shards of ice Charlotte had sent at him. Getting to his feet, Soma prepared his weapon and was about to rush Jonathan again before a black-cloaked figure dashed in front of him.

"That's enough," Alucard said, knocking Soma's weapon out of his hand. "You've had your fun."

"Hey," Soma said, sounding annoyed. "I thought you were going to let this go."

Alucard did not reply, instead turning to face the end of the room where Jonathan was performing several remarkable feats of athleticism to avoid Charlotte's various attacks.

"Are you going to release her?" the dhampir asked.

Soma shrugged. "Maybe." Alucard stared at the teen. "I mean, yeah." The white-haired boy walked forward a bit. "Charlotte, that's enough, let's go." At his words, the mage stopped immediately.

Alucard threw Jonathan a Potion and then made to leave. "Soma, let's go to the bakery across the way and then **leave**." The dhampir's annoyance was rather clear.

Soma started to follow but felt his arm being grabbed.

"Master Soma, what shall we do now?" Charlotte asked as she hung affectionately off of Soma's right arm. Soma had an expression of shock on his face, Jonathan looked rather angry, and Alucard was staring at the floor, eyes closed.

"Release her." Alucard commanded simply.

"Erm," Soma started. "Go grab onto Jonathan," he managed to keep his voice level as he said that.

"Hey, wait a–" Jonathan began, but choked on his words when Charlotte grabbed onto his arm as she had Soma's. "Ch-Charlotte!"

"That is not what I meant," Alucard said, not having changed position at all.

"I don't know how to stop it!" Soma said helplessly, staring at the scene in front of him.

Alucard let out a long sigh before slowly and purposefully turning to Jonathan and Charlotte. Jonathan looked at him with a strange mix of emotions, as if he couldn't figure out whether Alucard was going to do something to help him or was going to run both of them through on his sword.

Gripping Charlotte's shoulder, the dhampir removed the mage from Jonathan and turned her to face him. She looked about to resist, but Alucard stared at her for a few moments before she seemed to suddenly regain her senses.

Soma ducked to avoid the book that was thrown, causing it to narrowly miss his head.

"You jerk! I don't believe you!" the mage shouted at Soma. Interestingly, Jonathan was actually holding her back.

"Hey, I think I deserve a 'Sorry', for trying to kill me," the vampire hunter said. Charlotte spun to face him.

"Why? It wasn't my fault!" the mage insisted.

Jonathan crossed his arms. "And Astarte was mine?"

There was silence for a while before Charlotte finally spoke. "...Sorry." But she quickly shook the embarrassment off. "But I am still going to kill – huh? Where did they...?" Charlotte turned to see an empty doorway where Soma and Alucard had previously been standing.

"Aw, Arikado! It was just getting interesting!" Soma complained as Alucard basically dragged him away.

"Congratulations," the dhampir said dryly. "You have proven yourself to be very immature and made an enemy of a witch of substantial power. I hope you are happy."

"Well, if we're going to leave, it doesn't matter, right?" Soma asked.

* * *

"_Thanks, Charlotte!" Jonathan said as the mage finished the healing spell. At that, he was back in the thick of the melee, helping Alucard and Shanoa fight Dracula's confidant, Death._

"_Come on, don't I get a heal?" Soma asked from behind her. She did not even turn to look at him._

"_Why don't you just use that Succubus soul you are so fond of?" she remarked sarcastically._

_

* * *

_

"_Charlotte, open the door! Please!" Soma cried as he pounded helplessly on the blue barrier separating him from safety outside of Dracula's throne room._

"_Hm? Did I just hear something?" the mage remarked to herself._

_There was the sound of an explosion, and Soma's shout from the other side. Charlotte stepped on the switch to reveal a pitiful looking skeleton._

_

* * *

_

"_Charlotte! Revive meeee!" Soma jumped up and down, looking rather silly as he was just a skeleton. "I have a Valmanway and am much better than Jonathan!"_

_There was a flash as the mage used the Water of Life._

"_Thanks, Charlotte!" Jonathan said before resuming his attack on the Puppet Master with the Wrecking Ball._

_

* * *

_

"For your sake, I hope so," Alucard said simply. "Now," the dhampir indicated the wall. "Go, and quickly."

"I'm on it!" Soma said, pulling his dagger from his coat. With practiced ease, he used the Succubus soul and the dagger's critical attack to go through the wall.

Alucard let out a long sigh, and produced the card for his sword familiar.


	3. Ch 5 CVIII

"What kind of place is this?" Soma said in confusion as he looked over the landscape.

Though it was a bit difficult to call it a landscape; usually a term like that would be reserved for a breathtaking view over a lake, or a painting of a forest, or something. But this was different. The mountains in the distance...even the trees nearby, they looked most odd. Rough; blocky, perhaps.

"Everything is...pixelated...?" The teen turned, expecting to see Alucard beside him. But there was nothing but empty air.

"Erm, Arikado?" Soma blinked, and realized the dhampir was nowhere to be found. "Crap." Looking around, Soma saw what he could only guess to be a familiar castle in the distance. Seeing no other obvious options, he began to head in that direction.

* * *

_Elsewhere..._

Alucard was not in a very comfortable position, as he was currently trapped in what felt to be a coffin of some sort. Under normal circumstances (naturally, Alucard could call being in a coffin normal circumstances) he could make do, but this one was annoyingly small and too cramped for the dhampir's tastes.

He tried to break the top open, but appeared to be made of sturdier stuff than it's look suggested as it only barely dented from the impact of his attack.

But the dhampir could not give up. Even if he could not break it himself, perhaps the noise might alert someone outside to come and see what was going on.

* * *

"What, candles attached to the air?" Soma remarked as he cut down another floating torch and acquired another useless heart. "Where's all the money...?"

His continued musing was interrupted when he spotted a small figure in the distance, causing him to stop in surprise for a moment.

"Hey!" Soma called as he approached, and seemed to succeed in gaining the attention of whoever it was, as they turned and began heading towards him.

The first thing Soma really noticed about them was that they were very short. They stood at about half Soma's height and had the same blocky look as everything else in this crazy environment. They were wearing some sort of brown garb, but Soma couldn't make out any details.

"...What's up?" Soma tried.

The figure was silent.

"...I'm Soma. Who are you?" Soma asked again, cocking his head slightly in confusion.

In response, the figure whipped the air a couple of times, causing Soma to jump back in alarm. He could sense what that power was.

"The Vampire Killer? But..." he trailed off, unsure of what else to say. Was this...thing, possibly a Belmont? That was hard to imagine.

The figure jumped up and down a few times, then whipped the air again.

"Can you not talk?" Soma asked, guessing the worst.

Jump. Jump.

"So...are you a Belmont...?"

Jump. Jump. Whip. Crouch. Crouch.

Soma was silent for a moment. He had absolutely no idea what the "Belmont" was trying to say.

The figure jumped back and forth.

"So...which direction are you headed? To the castle?" Soma asked, though the question sounded very lame to his ears.

The Belmont jumped and whipped a couple times.

Soma could only assume that meant yes. "Together, then?"

There was a slight pause before the figure approached him and held out his hand.

"A handshake...?" Soma mumbled to himself. He crouched down and accepted it.

With that, the figure turned and began continuing down the road they were on previously.

They had not walked far before they were assaulted by a few very small black crows.

"What the...? Even the enemies are tiny." Soma produced his Valmanway and cut a few of the birds down as the Belmont took out another. "Heh, that was easy."

Whip. Whip. The figure walked forward a bit, then back again. Whip. Whip.

Soma didn't really understand, and said as much. "Let's just keep going...?" he suggested. Taking the lead, the teen blended his way through various skeletons, zombies, crows, and various other knee-high monsters as he and his companion entered what appeared to be a graveyard.

As the two did so, Soma heard a loud crash of some kind come from deeper inside. No even bothering to voice his opinion as the Belmont didn't seem to be able to respond in a fashion he could understand, the teen found the Black Panther soul and rushed to the source, blowing through several more enemies on his way.

What he found surprised him.

"Arikado?"

The dhampir was kneeling on the ground, as though tired from heavy exertion. Though when he saw Soma he straightened up immediately.

"Soma? What happened?"

"Don't ask me," Soma replied. "I have no idea where this is."

Alucard looked down for a moment. "I fear I may–" His voice caught as he noticed who had approached Soma's side. "–Trevor."

The brown figure jumped up and down next to Soma.

"What? It has a name?" Soma asked.

"Trevor Belmont. The year is 1476." Alucard supplied quickly.

The so-called Trevor Belmont jumped up and down again, whipping this time.

"Forgive me. It is better not to speak of it." Alucard said.

Trevor whipped the air a couple of times.

"...Yes, I suppose. And call me Alucard." Alucard said after pausing for a moment.

"What?" Soma interjected. "Wait, you can understand that?"

Alucard looked at the teen for a moment as Trevor jumped up and down. "Yes," he said simply.

Soma opened his mouth as if to say say something, then closed it. He shook his head. "I'm not even going to ask..." Alucard obviously knew this Belmont; that much, Soma knew. He didn't have any idea of the details but to be honest, he didn't really care.

Trevor whipped the air again.

Alucard nodded and shook hands with the vampire hunter. "Only so far. But until then, yes."

"Arikado..." Soma began as the three of them ran down yet another nondescript path towards Castlevania's gates. "Where are we even heading?"

"Shut up and keep blending," the dhampir replied as they continued to cut down everything in their paths with their dual Valmanways.

Soma was stunned into silence at that remark. That didn't sound like Alucard at all.

"Arikado?" Soma asked carefully. "Are you all right?"

"Yes."

"You...didn't sound, well, normal," Soma commented.

Alucard made a noncommittal noise. "It is your fault," he said plainly, stopping as they entered into hallway.

"What – how?"

Trevor caught up to the two and paused.

Alucard was silent, and Trevor jumped and whipped a few times before crouching.

"...Later," Alucard said to Soma before nodding to Trevor and continuing the blend forward.

"This entire castle is a lot smaller than I thought it would be," Soma commented as he took a flying leap over three different platforms to where Alucard was waiting.

The dhampir did not respond, and the two waited as Trevor made very short, calculated jumps between each of the platforms. Soma had given up complaining that the Belmont was rather slow at making his way through the castle; he couldn't tell if Trevor was even listening, and he was pretty sure that Alucard wasn't.

Alucard eventually stopped the group in front of a nondescript stone wall.

"Trevor," he said, addressing the Belmont. "Please go on ahead. We must part ways here."

Whip. Whip. Crouch. Crouch.

"And you as well," Alucard replied, if you could even call it that. With that, Trevor continued on up another stairway that looked exactly that same as the others. Alucard then turned to Soma.

"Before you start," Soma began, preempting whatever Alucard was going to say. "I have a question."

The dhampir briefly considered telling the teen he wasn't interested before deciding it wasn't worth it. He remained silent, giving his tacit approval to continue.

"You said this is 14-something, right?"

"1476," Alucard supplied.

"Right. But the Belmont that killed Dracula then was Ralph C. Belmont, I thought."

Alucard gave Soma a very strange look.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Soma complained. "I do read stuff from time to time."

"From Julius's personal possessions?" Alucard asked, the question sounding a bit rhetorical. The dhampir sighed. "Trevor and Ralph are the same person."

Soma raised an eyebrow at this. "What?" He was at a loss as to what exactly that was supposed to mean.

"You know I've assisted the Belmont clan several times in battle," Alucard continued. Soma sensed a (relatively) long story coming, but didn't care as Alucard rarely said more than a sentence at a time normally. "I have helped record the histories as well. Among them was the battle of 1476." He paused for a moment. "As you may know, this information is not common knowledge – but more know of it than you may think. In time, I had produced different translations of the histories, as I could not know what languages we would need, or will need."

Soma nodded. "I guessed that's what those foreign papers were."

"What you noticed was merely...an experiment," Alucard continued carefully.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Naturally, I was not the only one to translate the documents for the ease of use of our allies elsewhere. Quite simply, I wished to know how far-reaching my work was. You read the Japanese version, I assume?"

Soma blinked. "Wait, so you're saying you made up two names for the same person so you could...that's really pointless."

"Indeed," Alucard agreed, deadpanning the response.

Soma didn't really know how to respond to that, and the silence would have continued had Alucard not spoken up.

"But enough talk of that," the dhampir said, looking up at Soma. "I must ask you about the Succubus glitch."

Soma was surprised for a moment before he realized what Alucard was referring to. "You mean the _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_."

Alucard stared silently at the teen before continuing, ignoring him pointedly. "It seems you have no idea what you are doing when you are using it."

Soma's mouth opened for a moment but no words came out as he stumbled for a response. "...What? What's that supposed to mean?"

Alucard sighed. "You have no idea how to...aim it, do you?" he asked rhetorically. "But no matter. Follow after me." The dhampir turned to the wall.

"Wait, wait," Soma started. "What are you talking about?"

"We are going to try to head back to our own timeline. Enough damage has been caused already," Alucard said simply, not even turning to look at Soma. "I don't even know the extent of what has happened."

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Soma asked, not sounding particularly serious.

"That is it exactly. I do not know. We can only pray for the best." Alucard produced the card that summoned his sword familiar and brought it out. "Let's go."

* * *

_In case it wasn't obvious, I don't remember the layout of the game at all so I made stuff up. __Feels like it could be better, but..._


	4. Ch 7 AoS

_Anonymous reviewer: Hey, man, you can't ask a question in your review then not have an account so I can't respond. _XP_ (chuckles)_

_The chapters vanished magically thanks to Soma's glitching._

* * *

"And we are back in Castlevania," Alucard stated matter-of-factly.

"Not bad, Arikado," Soma said as he surveyed the area. Considering the large gate closed behind them, they had to be at the castle's entrance. "But this place seems familiar."

"It should," the dhampir said. "We are inside the eclipse of 2035."

Soma's eyebrows went up. He supposed that the dhampir was right. "But how can you tell?"

"I am Alucard, and am omniscient," Alucard deadpanned. "With my extraordinary skill, I can tell simply by looking about."

Soma didn't have a response for such an out-of-character comment. "Erm...right..."

"Follow me," Alucard said simply, and began to move towards the castle's main entrance passage.

"Wait," Soma called, moving to catch up. "Where are we even going?"

"The chapel."

Soma paused. "...Why?"

Alucard stopped before the doorway. "Must I say it again? I clearly know much more than you do of how this glitch works, so you would do well to simply trust me."

"...And you know everything?" Soma half-suggested, half-stated under his breath.

"Yes, that as well," the dhampir responded as he pushed open the door, apparently having heard him.

The two began to blend through the ruined castle corridor when Soma stopped in alarm. "What happened to my Valmanways!" the teen cried in horror. Instead of the long-reaching blue slashes of the normal Valmanway, they were short sword-length pathetic white attacks that didn't even cover Soma's feet!

Alucard shrugged. "I've no problems with mine," the dhampir stated and ran back and forth a bit swinging the weapons to demonstrate – assuming you could call running about and having blue slashes magically appear in front of you swinging.

"Hrm...well at least I still have – what?" Soma began searching for a particular weapon, but stopped suddenly in surprise. "They aren't stacking...?"

Alucard said nothing, but gave the teen a questioning look.

"Why won't they stack?" Soma repeated again, obviously to himself.

"What are you talking about?" Alucard finally asked.

"Well normally when items are the same," Soma started, producing what looked to be about seven copies of Alucard's favored sword. "They'll stack."

Alucard shook his head slowly. "Excuse me?"

"You know...stack." Soma said it like the dhampir was supposed to understand him.

"What in my mother's name are you talking about, Soma?"

"They're the same, but they aren't stacking!" Soma insisted, holding out the weapons accusingly towards Alucard. The dhampir looked at them for a moment, before grabbing one of them.

"Look at this," he stated, holding the sword hilt-up. A small white tag hung off of the hilt, almost like a tassel. "It say's...'+1'." Alucard read.

"Huh," Soma said, grabbing the blade back from Alucard after putting away all the other swords. "So that's why. I can't really call it original, though."

"Original?" Alucard asked, again unsure of what Soma was talking about.

"It's not an original way to make a better weapon," he elaborated. "I mean, '+1'? Come on...that's pretty boring."

Alucard blinked. "It's...a tag, Soma."

"You don't get it, do you? It says '+1', so it's like, 'Alucard Sword +1'!" The teen gestured dramatically as he said the last part. "It's an Alucard Sword except _better_."

Alucard said nothing for a moment, before settling on "Whatever," and then continued on down the hallway.

"Hey, I remember this guy," Soma said as they went through yet another door and found a large skeletal torso with a gigantic bone in it's hand looking directly at them. It was also blue for some reason.

In the time it took Soma to say that, however, Alucard had already turned the bone to dust with the blessed wind that was the Valmanway.

"That was easy," Soma smirked as he moved up beside the dhampir as they began making their way up several platforms, Alucard blending skeletons, ravens, and other small fry as they went.

"Could you stop trying to make conversation?" Alucard asked, actually sounding annoyed.

Soma blinked and was silent for a moment. "Uh, why?" he asked. "There's nothing else to do with you killing everything."

"Your wasting my time with idle chatter and preventing the author from doing a Quick Jump," Alucard said simply.

Soma rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, there was something I wanted to ask." The pair leapt across a slightly longer gap and pushed open a door, which lead into yet another corridor. "If this is 2035, in the eclipse, where is everyone?" Naturally, he was referring to the others that had been here in the past.

"I cannot say," Alucard replied. "It's likely another effect of the Succubus Glitch."

"I told you, it's _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_." Soma was silent for a moment again, before he thought of something else to add. "Does that also have anything to do with why all these enemies are only chest-height? And while we're talking about that, what was up with that other place, where everything was only half my height?"

"**We** aren't talking about that, Soma. **You** are." Alucard said, completely and pointedly avoiding the question.

"Jeez, Arikado, don't be like that," Soma complained, though he obviously didn't sound hurt by the comment at all.

"Right here," Alucard said as he stopped at a room at the end of the corridor.

"Huh? I thought we were going to the Chapel?"

"This will work," Alucard stated, summoning his sword familiar.

Soma sighed. "Well, this was boring...we didn't even get to meet anyone."

"So much the better," the dhampir said. "Now..."

"Crap!" Soma interrupted suddenly.

"What?" Alucard asked, sounding a bit exasperated.

"The Succubus soul...! I can't use it!" Soma said, panicking.

"What do you mean?"

"For some reason, it's an enchantment soul!" The teen glanced around, as though he was looking for some way out of the situation. "I can't use it!"

"That's very unfortunate." Alucard turned to the wall and began to summon energy for the Sword Brothers spell.

"H-Hey! You can't just leave without me!" Soma shouted at the dhampir.

Alucard turned to took, but then turned back to the wall, saying nothing. Though the fact that he continued to prepare the spell was enough to see his intent.

Soma dived at Alucard in an attempt to stop the casting of the spell, but it was too late. As Soma was about to collide with the dhampir, he became immaterial for a moment as he transformed into a bat, causing Soma to crash onto the stone floor. He got back to his feet just in time to feel the wind at his back as Alucard rushed at the wall, disappearing into thin air.

There was a long silence as Soma stared at the wall.

"You can't do this to me!" he shouted at the wall, as pointless as it was. "Tch, I'll get you for this Arikado..." Soma suddenly looked up as he realized something. "Wait a minute..."

Searching for a moment, the teen produced a familiar thick book. Flipping through the pages, Soma was tempted to just erase Alucard's ability to use the Valmanway, but that would be too obvious. Finding where Alucard's spell information was written, he crossed out some descriptions and began to pen in his own.

When Soma was finished, Hellfire didn't have a teleportation sequence or any invincibility frames and Soul Steal hit only a small area and healed only for 1HP per hit, among other things.

Turning to face the exit of the room, Soma began to reconsider his current situation. Without the Succubus bullet soul, he couldn't use _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_ to escape. Before he could get through any more thoughts, however, he heard a strangely familiar voice.

"It's not like we can do anything about it now, right?"

Looking around the corner, Soma saw a red- and blue-clad pair of vampire hunters jogging down the corridor. Had he been disposed to act in-character, he may well have ducked back into the previous room to hide. But he didn't really feel like that.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Soma demanded, stepping out to meet them.

Jonathan and Charlotte stopped, surprised by who was before them.

"Whoa, didn't expect to meet you again." Jonathan was the first to vocalize his thoughts.

"But how did you get here?" Soma was thoroughly confused. He knew that both Alucard and he could exploit their own abilities to cross time and space, but as far as he knew, Jonathan and Charlotte had nothing like that. There was no way a simple spell could accomplish that.

"Well..." Jonathan started, but Charlotte then interrupted.

"Nothing we would tell you."

"Ouch, that's cold," Soma replied. "Well, whatever. I'm off this way," the teen continued, heading down a nearby stairway.

"Hey," Charlotte stopped Jonathan we he moved to follow. "We aren't going anywhere with him!"

"But we've already explored everywhere that looked interesting back there," Jonathan countered. "Come on, it's not going to be that bad."

"Hmph...fine," Charlotte grudging agreed, but kept herself a noticeable distance back behind Jonathan.

"Look out for the stupid skulls," Soma warned as they entered the doorway that led into the Chapel.

"Heh, no problem," Jonathan replied, producing a whip from his coat. Swinging it outwards, the end of the whip shined brightly then homed in on a nearby ghost, returning it to the afterlife.

Soma looked surprised. "Whoa, what's that whip?"

Jonathan turned and held the whip up. "It's called the Nebula. It's not very strong but it can do what you saw." With that, Jonathan and Charlotte continued on down the broken stairway.

Soma quickly pulled out the tome again and turned to a seemingly random page. Reading down the the page, he found a list the was titled 'Soma Equipment' and found an entry the read 'Nebula (DoS)'. Neatly crossing out the 'DoS', he wrote 'PoR' above it and shut the book and hurried to catch up to the others.

"I'm telling you Jonathan, we shouldn't be here," Charlotte was saying. "You heard what Alucard said before, didn't you?"

"You sure you just don't want to be around Soma?" Jonathan asked jokingly, smiling.

"It's because my souls are too–" Soma started, about to join in on the joke, but naturally Charlotte interrupted.

"Both of you shut up!" Charlotte practically shouted. "That's not it at all! Hmph."

"All right, all right, fine." Jonathan said. "You want to do it here?"

"The sooner the better," Charlotte simply replied.

Soma stopped. "Wait, you're just going to leave? How...?"

Jonathan spoke up. "I'll show you, it's pretty cool." He approached the doorway straight in front of the group and began slowly inching forward.

"What are you doing?" Soma asked. This was completely different from what he had expected.

"Charlotte, how am I doing?" Jonathan asked.

"Just a bit further..." Charlotte replied, watching the hunter carefully.

"Watch...I just get right...barely into the next room..." Jonathan said. "And then..."

There was a slight pause, and then, all of a sudden, the two just disappeared. Soma was left staring at empty air for a moment before he realized what had happened.

"What? How can you do that, leaving me behind?" Soma clenched his fist in anger as he stared angrily at the empty passageway. Shaking his head and sighing in deep annoyance, the teen looked up. "They did that on purpose. But no matter...I'll pay them back just like Arikado."

In flash born of a will for revenge, Soma had the tome in his hands again.

"All right, let's see here...Jonathan...let's make his only weapon the Vampire Killer...and why not make sub-weapons take forever to level as well?" Soma chuckled evilly. "Charlotte...let's reduce the chance of absorbing a spell, shall we? And how about this...! Dark Inferno goes right through the shield. Good luck trying to get it from Dracula before dying." Soma laughed menacingly, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.

Closing and replacing the book, Soma turned and looked around. "Now...to find a way out of here." He considered how he got here in the first place: using souls creatively. So what could he do now?

_I need to find something...a soul, that..._ Soma paused in realization. _That's it!_ Smirking triumphantly, the teen proceeded towards the Chapel's main tower, ducking out of the enemies way as the Black Panther soul lent him speed.

Plowing right through an Axe Armor, Soma skidded to a halt before the wall of the tower. Besides the wall, there was a small overhang of some kind that jutted out for several feet. The opening was just tall enough for Soma to stand comfortably under it, and the teen walked forward and put his hands to the wall.

"All right then." He searched the souls in his possession, feeling each of them until he found the one he was looking for. "Let's do this!"

Summoning the power of the Devil soul, Soma began to change form into a large demon. The area, however, was not large enough to contain the new form, which stood at least twice Soma's normal height. Soma's form flickered for a moment, unable to become material, before the spell lost it's power and Soma reverted to his human form.

As soon as that happened, however, Soma was shot up into the air; his body, still partially immaterial from the transformation effect passed through the floors of the tower before he finally vanished as he collided with the roof of the building.

* * *

_So Soma got a bit of what he was asking for with his horrible attitude. A pity he has other glitches at his disposial._


	5. Ch 8 OoE

_Wasn't expecting something this long, but I suppose it makes up for the relatively long update time._

_In retrospect, serious Alucard, emotionless Shanoa, and IC Soma together don't make for very good humor. I fixed that about halfway through. Also, I've never played OoE so something in here is bound to be wrong. I preemptively counter any of that by saying 'Soma is glitching'. That's all._

* * *

Soma fell to his knees, impacting the grassy field much harder than he normally did when coming out of the Succubus glitch. Er, the _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_. That's it.

"Soma?" a familiar calm voice asked from behind him – Alucard.

"Ugh...that was..." Soma trailed off, finding it difficult to describe the 'normal' feeling of the glitch compared to what had happened this time. He pulled himself to his feet and turned to face the dhampir. "What happened?"

Alucard was silent for a moment; Soma was being remarkably civil. "I cannot be certain," he started. He did have a theory – that Soma had somehow performed a Succubus glitch-like maneuver and...'collided' with him while they were traveling, causing them to end up here. "But it is unimportant." Alucard turned and looked southwest, where some buildings could be seen in the distance. "We'll head there first."

Soma nodded and the two were off, Alucard secretly surprised at Soma's sudden...normalcy. Perhaps he has just been pushed so far to the extreme he came back around? The dhampir supposed that musing over it was pointless; he needed only to return them to their proper time, hopefully without any further issues.

"Crap," Soma remarked as they made their way towards a rockier portion of landscape. "Looks like there's monsters here, too..."

Alucard did not reply, simply drawing his weapon and continuing forward. Soma did have a point, though; Alucard could sense the faint evil of Castlevania, yet the darkness of the monsters that inhabited it was thick in this area.

The combat was nothing spectacular; with Soma acting normal and Alucard as stoic as ever, their battles were focused and to the point, easily evading their opponents' attacks and countering with killing strikes.

Things became interesting when the pair reached a slightly more traversable hill, closer towards their destination.

Alucard held his blade out in front of Soma suddenly, motioning for the teen to stop.

"Huh? What is it?" Soma asked, nothing immediately jumping out to him as suspicious.

"Focus," Alucard said simply. "...Do you feel that power ahead?"

Soma closed his eyes for a moment, doing as the dhampir had instructed, and noticed what Alucard was talking about. The power felt strangely familiar and yet foreign at the same time. "What are we going to do, Arikado?"

"We can only advance," Alucard replied. "But stay on your guard."

As they passed around the hill they saw the source of the power they had sensed; a woman in strange robes with long, raven-black hair, who seemed to be engaging the monsters as well.

"What the–? Someone's here, fighting monsters?" Soma exclaimed, his hand going to his weapon. "Come on, we have to help!"

Alucard almost tried to stop the teen, before deciding he may as well assist. Though he couldn't be sure what was going on, he couldn't allow someone to die either.

The pair cut down several of the small fry as they moved closer before they saw how the woman fought. Seemingly from the air, she magically formed a scythe and brought the edge around, beheading a nearby zombie. In the same motion, she twisted the weapon around, bringing the blunt edge down upon an approaching skeletal soldier, crushing the bones and sending the remaining pieces flying. In that instant, the scythe vanished again, seeming to fade into nothingness.

She turned and faced Alucard and Soma, staring with an intensity that surprised Soma.

"Who are you?" she demanded simply.

Soma was hesitant to respond, but gave his name anyway. "...Soma."

"Arikado," Alucard said, and then, surprisingly, continued. "We are not your foes. Though we each possess dark powers, we are not allies of Dracula."

The woman stared at the two of them for a moment, as though considering Alucard's words. "And yet the taint of Dracula is clear on both of you."

Alucard looked down. This he knew, all too well. "You are correct. But as I said we are not his allies." The dhampir glanced into the distance for a moment. "However I sense the presence of Castlevania...has it risen?"

"...It has not," she replied, with slight hesitation. "Who are you to know of Castlevania so well?"

Alucard was silent for a moment, and Soma was still not sure what he should say. "Please forgive us. Our situation is delicate, and anything we tell you could lead to substantial ramifications. We plan to make our way to the nearby town, then take our leave."

The woman was silent for a moment. "...Then allow me to escort you."

Soma let out a sigh of relief. "So...what's your name?"

"Shanoa," she said simply. "Before we return, however, there is something I must attend to here."

"Very well," Alucard said, having no particular objections if they would be able to evade particular trouble and leave quickly. Soma and Alucard followed Shanoa up the hill where they spotted a chupacabra sitting atop the branches of a dead tree.

"Hold," Shanoa commanded, continuing forward herself.

Soma turned to Alucard. "What's she want with a chupacabra?"

"I do not know," the dhampir replied. "The Cave Troll can be a powerful foe, however...perhaps–"

"Cave Troll?" Soma replied, cutting Alucard off.

"Forgive me. The chupacabra."

Soma stared at him with confusion. "What...? How do you even...?"

"It is...a nickname," Alucard explained. "That's all."

"You know...come to think of it, I've noticed that the bestiaries that we've collected all say something like that about that monster. Is that–?"

"It's simply a force of habit. Pay it no mind."

Soma was about to push a bit further, his curiosity piqued, when he noticed what Shanoa was doing with the chupacabra. Instead of fighting it, she seemed to be dodging around it's attacks, staying within maybe an arms length but never attacking herself.

"What the...? Is that a...camera?" Soma asked in disbelief as he noticed a glint of light reflect from the item in the woman's hands. Alucard did not reply, instead simply watchingthe events unfold.

It was rather silly, actually. Shanoa would duck one of the monsters swipes, then stand and snap a picture of the monster before ducking away. She would then examine the picture, seeming to check it's quality before deciding it was not good enough and taking another. Soma would have laughed had both Alucard and Shanoa not been treating the situation as though it were as serious as anything else that happened around Castlevania.

Eventually, Shanoa seemed to be happy with the picture she had taken and replaced the camera, summoning two swords and cutting the monster to ribbons.

"Is that all?" Soma asked as Shanoa walked past them, down the trail and towards the village they had seen earlier. Shanoa replied with a simple 'Yes' and the pair began to follow her.

The trip to the village was uneventful. Alucard and Shanoa didn't make conversation, and Soma didn't feel inclined to do so himself, either.

"This is Wygol Village," Shanoa said as they neared the buildings. From the structure, Alucard guessed they must be in the 1800s somewhere. Alucard was about to reply when an elderly looking man approached the three of them.

"Shanoa!" he called. "A castle has appeared on the western horizon! I feel an oppressive evil from it..."

"What?" Shanoa said, her voice calm despite the news. "Then I will go there at once." She turned to the others behind her. "Follow me." She began leading them away from the village, though not in a direct line to the castle's gates.

"So it was Castlevania after all..." Alucard said quietly from her side, his eyes narrowed.

"This just happened recently," Shanoa replied. "There is someone to whom I must speak before we go."

It was not long before they arrived at what looked to be some sort of citadel or church. The building was old-looking, comparatively speaking, but was not unkempt. Once inside the entryway, Shanoa turned to Alucard and Soma.

"Please wait here. I will not be long." With that, she proceeded further inwards.

"...Do you understand what's going on, Arikado?" Soma asked after a moment of silence.

The dhampir shook his head slightly in reply. "No. But I'm not concerned...once in Castlevania, returning to our time period should be simple."

Soma looked at him in surprise. "Huh? Really?"

Alucard didn't bother responding, feeling the answer to be obvious. At least Soma seemed like he would be willing to go along with his plan this time. Perhaps they would get back after all.

The inner door opened and Shanoa walked out quickly. "We must go to Castlevania, quickly." Alucard fell into step next to her, and Soma managed to not be left behind only because he was so used to doing the same with Alucard.

"What happened?" Soma asked as they turned towards the castle the loomed before them.

"I planned to speak with someone here," Shanoa replied, but did not turn to face the teen. "However I could not find him. Perhaps he has been taken to Castlevania."

Alucard considered her words. "I see." Unfortunately, the records were not particularly clear on what happened during this time, so Alucard could only hypothesize about the events currently taking place.

The sky darkened as the trio approached the castle's gates, though the full moon that accompanied it provided ample light to see by. Just as they passed through the gates, however, the massive portcullis seemed to gain a will of its own and slam shut, trapping the three inside.

...

Well, except for mist, anyway. Or the _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_. Or jumping over the castle wall. Okay, so they weren't really trapped. But it didn't matter, as they were all heading for Castlevania.

Just as they began down the path, however, a strange song began to play. Everyone glanced around for a moment, before Soma realized that it was his cell phone of all things. Fishing around in his jacket for a moment, he pulled out the offending device which was glowing with the words:

**再生中： 黄昏の聖痕**

For those that don't speak Soma's native language, that's:

**Now Playing: An Empty Tome**

Alucard almost facepalmed. Almost.

"What is that?" Shanoa asked as the boy flipped his phone open and tried to figure out what was up with it.

Alucard thought for a moment. "...Consider it part of the reason we'd like to be on our way from here."

Soma tapped a few random buttons, cutting the music, and was surprised to see that he had somehow managed to receive a text message of all things.

How is that even possible? Soma asked himself. This is, what... He paused mid-thought when he realized he didn't actually know what year this was. Well it's definitely before cell phones. He opened the message, and scanned it's rather short contents.

**Sender: Ne-9**

**Hello. Hope you like the music. It's very fitting. You should get ready.**

What the Hrunting? Soma checked the time the message was sent, and sure enough it was just now. Well, ignoring the fact that his phone's internal clock was of by some hundreds of years, anyway. He pressed a few more only was the text message somehow magically sent to him here, the reply link had his own number as the address! Not that it would work with no cell phone towers around... I guess it's pointless to try to worry about it now. I can't do anything about it, anyway.

Soma stuffed his phone back into his jacket and cleared his throat. "Well, we should keep going, right...?"

Alucard and Shanoa returned their gazes to Soma before Alucard gave a slight not and the three continued moving.

Just as the began down the path for the third time, there was a bright flash of white light that blinded the group.

"Gah! What is this...?" Soma cried out through the light.

The light faded, and Alucard and Shanoa quickly scanned the area, Alucard having his sword in hand.

"What, it's you!" Soma said in surprise as the three saw the figures standing before them. Two, in fact, whom Alucard and Soma had met previously.

"...We could say the same to you," Charlotte said, her voice carefully even.

Jonathan went for the much more casual, "Hey," not sounding surprised in the slightest. "Where's the other...?" The red-clad hunter turned, and then noticed Alucard and Shanoa.

Not even bothering to address the dhampir, Jonathan immediately approached Shanoa, a smile on his face. "Hello there, beautiful. What's your name?"

"Shanoa. I'm not interested," she replied simply.

There was a long pause as everyone else tried to understand what had just happened.

"J-Jonathan! What's wrong with you?" Charlotte's surprise was evident.

The moment Charlotte said that, Alucard understood. Before he could put words to his thoughts, however, Soma spoke.

"Heh, that must sting," he commented, a smirk on his face.

Jonathan looked dramatically sad, sighing. "That's harsh..."

"Who are you?" Shanoa asked, though it was a bit closer to a command.

Jonathan's smile returned at the question. "Jonathan Morris. And this is my genius partner, the lovely Charlotte Aulin."

A blush formed on the mage's face. "Wh-What are you saying, Jonathan? Why are you acting like this...?"

"It's likely the effects of your...travel here," Alucard said carefully. "I saw similar effects in Soma." Before the dhampir could elaborate any further, said teen spoke up again.

"Your explanations are boring, Arikado," Soma said, turning towards the inner castle. "Let's go!" With that, he produced his dual Valmanways and charged through the doors.

"...Like so." Alucard finished.

Charlotte gave him a questioning look. "You mean he's not always like that?"

The dhampir looked down, imagining how horrible things would have been had that been the case. "Fortunately, no."

At this point, Shanoa spoke up, asking for an explanation.

Alucard sighed. "Very well. I suppose it can do no harm now." He summarized how he and Soma had traveled through time and space and ended up here. "It was my intent to leave quickly."

"I see." Shanoa didn't look particularly surprised by the explanation, for which Alucard was glad. He could most definitely do with more calm members of the party.

"Well that's not going to happen now, huh?" Jonathan said, glancing towards the entrance Soma had went in.

Alucard didn't reply.

"Then we can only follow him," Shanoa said from the dhampir's side.

"Indeed."

The four entered the castle's main hallway, easily tracking Soma for two reasons. The first being that the hallway was straight and had no other exits. The other that there was a mess of bones and diced meat down the paths Soma had taken.

A short ways in, Jonathan complained, "This is boring..."

"I think you should be glad we don't have to fight anything," Charlotte replied.

"But it's boring!" the red-clad hunter insisted.

Neither Alucard nor Shanoa said anything.

Eventually the four caught up to Soma, who was fighting a relatively short and fat humanoid demon wearing a sort of green cloak. No one bothered to help him as he hacked away.

"Sheesh, you don't give up easy," the teen commented.

Surprisingly, however, the demon seemed oblivious to Soma's slashes, producing a familiar looking blue potion from it's jacket and downing it quickly.

"Wha–?" Jonathan started in surprise.

"A potion?" Charlotte was equally surprised at the notion.

Soma stared at the creature in surprise for a moment before declaring, "Screw this." With practiced ease, he performed the _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_ through the wall and on to the other side. It was clear he was on the other side and not off in another world because they heard him laugh derisively and shout, "You suck! I'm out of here!"

The four left behind, however, still had the demon to contend with. It reached into its pockets and produced a pair of strange-looking bombs.

Alucard responded immediately. "Everyone, take cover!"

Luckily, it seemed there were floating cubes behind which the heroes were able to duck to avoid the cross-shaped blasts. Alucard peered around the corner to see the demon emerging from the wall after the smoke cleared.

"How are we supposed to defeat this thing, then, if it heals itself?" Jonathan called from across the room.

Charlotte and Alucard were at a loss when Shanoa spoke. "It uses the power of a glyph to phase into the wall," she explained quickly. "If I can steal that power..."

Alucard couldn't say he understand what she meant besides the probable meaning of the words. He stated the likely conclusion. "Then it will be unable to use that power itself..." Perhaps that would lead them somewhere.

"What do we need to do?" Charlotte asked.

"Steal the thing's potions, of course!" Jonathan chimed in quickly, jumping forward towards the creature.

"Stop!" Alucard called, though Jonathan ignored him. What did the hunter hope to accomplish? Only Shanoa understood how this monster's ability worked, so what he was doing was simply putting himself in danger. Under normal circumstances, the dhampir probably would have stopped him, but at the moment, Alucard was a bit fed up with saving irrational teenagers from making stupid mistakes.

"Haha!" Jonathan laughed in the demon's face, holding the Super Potion out triumphantly. Ignoring the hunter, as it seemed to be quite good at doing, it simply produced another. Jonathan stared at it for a moment before grabbing that one as well.

The comic process continued to the disbelieving stares of his companions until Jonathan suddenly found himself holding a bomb. Charlotte called out to her partner, who tossed the item into the air and dived wildly behind a nearby cube.

Unfortunately for her, that happened to be where Charlotte was hiding, and the two collided, collapsing to the floor.

As this happened, Shanoa had leapt atop one of the floating cubes and lifted her flowing black hair to reveal a strange marking of some kind on her back. Alucard felt a strange magical power, similar to the one he had sensed when she had fought earlier.

Jonathan had gotten to his knees and was staring as well, though obviously for a different reason. "Wow."

Stretching his senses carefully, Alucard was able to discern that Shanoa was somehow drawing power from the wall where the demon was currently hiding. He could only assume this was what she had meant before. The energy came to a peak for a moment before snapping to nothing, and the dhampir heard a strange cry from within the wall.

At this, he understood. The demon had been using a 'glyph' to phase into the wall, as Shanoa had said. When she stripped the 'glyph' from it, it's power was lost and it was destroyed, no longer able to hide within the wall.

"Jonathan, can you get off of me?"

Jonathan's gaze returned to the mage, who was looking up at him from the floor. He smirked. "Why? I don't mind this position at all."

The sound of Charlotte's thick and magically-enhanced spellbook colliding with Jonathan's head resounded through the small room. Jonathan lay on the ground a few feet away, the force of the blow being more powerful than he had expected.

"Agh! So violent!" the hunter complained, though he didn't sound that serious about it.

"Shanoa," Alucard spoke as he stood, ignoring the portrait of dalliance,, the sense of their antics well captured by the word, and approaching the wall. "Can you use the creature's power here?"

Shanoa moved to the wall as well and held her hand to it, where a turquoise glow formed. After a moment, she stepped forward, her arm slowly being consumed by the wall just as the monster had before. Alucard placed his hand to the wall and found it perfectly solid; clearly, the power of the 'glyph' was affecting Shanoa's form in some way. She stepped about halfway into the wall before turning around and offering her hand to the dhampir.

Alucard turned to the other two in the room. "Here," he called, before taking Shanoa's hand. As he did so, he felt a strange feeling. _Perhaps this is the power of the glyph?_ Stepping forward carefully, the dhampir reached for the wall with his free hand and found that he could push through, as though the wall had merely the consistency of a thick mud.

Once completely through he released Shanoa's hand and the feeling faded. Alucard stood waiting on the other side of the wall before Jonathan and Charlotte came through, one at a time, before Shanoa stepped entirely through as well.

Alucard turned and scanned the room. There was nothing that seemed out of place, so he assumed Soma had continued on; though where to, he could only guess.

The group passed through a small corridor before entering a larger room.

"There's an exit down there," Charlotte said, indicating a path down below them.

"Wait," Alucard said. "Up there." He pointed to a gap in the ceiling on the other side of the room.

Before anyone else could respond, however, they felt an incredible surge of dark power flow through the castle.

"What the–?" Jonathan shouted in surprise.

"It's coming from the top of the castle..." Shanoa said calmly.

"The throne room." Alucard continued. "We have to head there."

"All right!" Jonathan said, sounding noticeably more fired up than just a second ago. "Let's do this!" Summoning a magic power, the red-clad hunter leapt from the staircase they stood on all the over the far wall. From there, he pushed off and jumped through the hole, leaving hazy trail of fire behind him.

As the hunter did that, the mage next to him had cast a spell that gave her an owl's form. With that, she simply began to fly towards the gap Jonathan had disappeared into.

"Alucard," Shanoa said from the dhampir's side. "Can you assist me?" Alucard simply nodded as he made his way to directly beneath the passage. He looked upwards for a moment, checking his position, before looking to Shanoa. The Form of Bat wouldn't work here, obviously, so he would have to resort to using a technique similar to what Jonathan had done.

"I can jump up from here," the dhampir said to her. The most straightforward way would be to simply have him carry her up there, but his limited experience in this area lead him to believe it wouldn't be that easy. He offered his arms to her awkwardly, and was very surprised when she practically jumped into his arms.

"It will be fastest if you simply carry me up," she said simply. Alucard looked at her for a moment before nodding. He hadn't expected that response.

Tapping into the power of his relics, Alucard leapt with unnatural strength, leaving a blue trail behind him before he landed surprisingly softly up through the exit, where Jonathan and Charlotte were waiting. Alucard let Shanoa down and the two began to walk up some steps towards the next door, Jonathan giving the dhampir a weird look as they passed.

"Hey, Alucard," Jonathan called to him after they had entered yet another corridor. Alucard turned slightly to look at him, but said nothing.

"Have you tried asking that Shanoa out?" Jonathan continued, with a smirk that Alucard was beginning to find very grating. "You're personalities are pretty similar, so it could definitely work."

Alucard looked forward again, intending to ignore Jonathan. He didn't want nor need relationship advice, especially not with the way Jonathan had been acting recently.

Before Jonathan could continue to pry however, a very strange thing happened. Everyone seemed to have felt it, because they all stopped walking and glanced around in surprise. The dhampir couldn't describe it; nothing was off, but he still felt something happen.

A moment later, the environment's color seemed to change wildly for a moment before returning to normal.

"What is that?" Charlotte asked rhetorically as everyone trying to figure out what was going on.

Then, without warning, they suddenly found themselves inside a completely different room. It had doors on both ends and seemed to be quite overdecorated with the color red, though it didn't hurt the eyes.

"What the Claimh Solais happened?" a familiar voice remarked from one side of the room – Soma. Everyone else turned to face him.

Alucard narrowed his eyes. "That would be my question to you."

Soma didn't look particularly surprised by the others' sudden appearance. "Well, don't ask me, I don't know." He approached the ornate glowing doors that guarded one of the room's exits. Surprisingly, it didn't open for him. "Wha, What's up with this?" He hit the door a couple of times to no avail.

Jonathan approached the door as well, only to have it open immediately as he approached. "Hey, it works for me." He stepped away, and the door shut as though no one else were standing near it.

The others stepped up behind the two teens, and Alucard spoke. "Soma." He paused, wondering if he should even bother. "We need to leave. From the next room, we should be able to return."

Soma gave him a weird look but said nothing, which surprised the dhampir a bit. Shanoa walked up to the door and then everyone filed in except for Soma.

"What? I can't get in!" he complained. Alucard raised an eyebrow at this.

"Is there some kind of barrier...?" Charlotte wondered aloud.

"Screw that!" Soma said, pulling out a dagger. Performing Kurusujikuukanshouten'i, he got through with no trouble. "Ha. Can't keep me out, worthless door."

It was then that fate intervened.

"So you have come..." a deep male voice said, echoing throughout the room.

Alucard's breath caught. Father.

The occupants of the room could feel the Count's evil grin. "More worthless hunters intending to end me." He gaze fell to Alucard. "And of course. It has been a long time..." He stood, his black cape falling dramatically behind him. "Come, my son, let us embrace!"

"Hey, old man!" Soma shouted, making his way to the front of the group.

Dracula's expression change. "Who are you?" He sensed a strange power from the youth. His own power.

Then, without warning, they suddenly found themselves inside a completely different room. It had doors on both ends and seemed to be quite overdecorated with the color red, though it didn't hurt the eyes.

"What the Stellar Sword happened?" Jonathan asked from the back of the group.

"I cannot say." The dhampir glanced around. Something had definitely happened, but he wasn't entirely sure what. "I still feel a dark power from the throne room..." he said solemnly. "The next room."

Shanoa approached the ornate glowing door that lead to the next room, followed by the others. Heading inside, the room opened up into the grand throne room of the Dark Lord Dracula.

Alucard gasped in surprise when he saw who was on the throne. "Soma?"

The white-clad teen sat leisurely on the throne, idly staring at the glass of red liquid he held in his hand. It matched the aura around him perfectly. He stood, and laughed evilly, the sound resounding through the room and echoing menacingly.

"Damn, that sounds cool," Soma remarked.

The others' expressions changed, and Alucard repeated his call to the teen.

"Hey, Alucard," he said, his aura fading. "Did you realize how many of these glasses there are behind this throne? There's got to be thousands of them!"

"Soma, enough games. We need to leave now."

Then, without warning, they suddenly found themselves inside a completely different room. It had doors on both ends and seemed to be quite overdecorated with the color red, though it didn't hurt the eyes.

"What the Claimh Solais happened?" a familiar voice remarked from one side of the room – Soma. Everyone else turned to face him.

Alucard narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely off, but he wasn't entirely sure what.

Then, without warning, they suddenly found themselves inside a completely different room. Well, if you could even call it a room. It was more like an...area, like some sort of different dimensional space that stretched on as a empty field with a strange, cloudy, dark blue background everywhere. Alucard glanced around, trying to get his bearings, but it was a wasted effort. The entire place was some sort of infinite plane with no landscape to speak of.

"Shanoa?" the dhampir asked, seeing that the woman was on her knees. He received no response, so he called to her again.

"What...what is this strange feeling...?" she said, seemingly to herself.

"Shanoa? Are you all right?" Alucard asked, the question sounding awkward to his ears.

There was a slight pause, and Shanoa stood. "...Yes. I'm sorry. Something happened when we were transported here..."

Alucard was silent, listening carefully. The others approached from behind and, thankfully, said nothing to interrupt.

Shanoa began to speak of her past, stating that some time ago, a series of events led to her losing her ability to feel emotions.

"So that's why you're like Arikado," Soma chimed in. Charlotte told him to shut up.

"It seems that somehow, it has been...cured," she continued.

It was at that moment that another voice echoed through the area.

"Your rampant disregard for the flow of Time ends now."

* * *

___You will get absurd amounts of points if you can figure out the obscure method I used to come up with the sender of the text message. I warn you, though, it is ____**quite**____ obscure._


	6. Ch 9 Judgment

_As always, comments are appreciated._

* * *

Everyone turned to face the direction the voice came from. The speaker was a young-looking man dressed in a impeccable white tuxedo, which contrasted with the darker background of their current location.

"Who are you?" Alucard asked, though it was not far from a demand.

"And what are you talking about?" Jonathan added.

The man stepped towards them slowly. "I am Aeon, guardian of Time, and I am here to correct a disturbance," he said simply.

Alucard realized quickly what this meant. Soma, it seemed, had finally pushed things over the edge. Perhaps it had been his meeting with Dracula that had ended things; Soma was his reincarnation, after all.

"What does that entail?" the dhampir asked solemnly.

"Disruptions of Time may have far-reaching effects," Aeon began. "Those who are least affected will be returned. Those who are savable will be tested. And those who are beyond salvation will be ended." His stopped, his gaze passing over each of the five warriors.

"O Time, heed your servant's request..." Aeon's eyes closed, and a magic seal appeared beneath his feet. Everyone readied themselves, unsure of what to expect, when suddenly identical seals appeared under Charlotte and Shanoa.

"What is this?" Charlotte exclaimed, feeling herself unable to move.

"It must be time magic," Shanoa said quickly.

Jonathan turned to Aeon. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Wait!" Alucard shouted hurriedly, producing his mystic stopwatch. "Time magic. If we cancel it with our own power...!"

"Hey, I can do that," Soma remarked from behind Alucard, seemingly unmoved by the situation.

"R-Right!" Charlotte responded.

One moment later, Alucard activated his stopwatch's power, Soma invoked the soul of the Chronomage, and Charlotte chanted the words for Time Stop. "Time, be still!" There was a blinding white flash, then silence.

Jonathan turned to look at Aeon, who appeared to be frozen. "Did it work?" the hunter asked aloud.

It was then that Aeon's eyes suddenly opened. "I'm afraid not." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "O Time, free Yourself from this pathetic grasp!" There was another white flash, and they felt the power of their spell fade quickly.

Everyone stared at Aeon, weapons ready but unmoving.

Aeon closed his eyes and sighed, seemingly ignorant of the tension in the air. From a chain on his belt, the man produced a small stopwatch. It flashed a white color before flickering and suddenly appearing as a larger watch, two blades coming from either end, forming a two-bladed sword of sorts. Each was designed fittingly to resemble the hands of a clock, the fore being the longer minute hand, and the back, the hour. "Well then." He looked up. "Shall we begin the first trial?"

Alucard stiffened. So they were to fight him, then? Normally, the dhampir might have chosen not to fight, trusting that a 'guardian of Time' would choose the best way to fix the problems Soma had caused. But now, Aeon challenged them, albeit indirectly. So he would fight.

"Heh, enough chit-chat anyway," Soma remarked, rushing towards Aeon. "Let's do this!"

"Jonathan!" Alucard called, deciding he'd best lead. "Support Soma! Charlotte, stay back and use your magic." He turned to Shanoa. "Shanoa, I trust you can judge the battle and act accordingly?" With Jonathan and Soma taking the frontlines, he didn't want too many more attacking directly or they'd likely interfere with one another more than they would help. Besides that, it would make things easier for the author.

Jonathan brought the Vampire Killer around from his right side, swinging it towards Aeon's chest. The white-clad man, however, merely slipped underneath the blow before bringing his blade around to clash with Soma's. Delivering a kick to the flat of blade, Aeon knocked Soma's sword aside, spinning the minute hand up, where it caught a blast of lightning sent from Shanoa and deflected it aside. Aeon then leapt backwards to avoid another attack of Soma's, but this left him open to a flying knee from Jonathan.

The blow connected with the man's chest, sending him–

The blow narrowly missed as Aeon sidestepped, bringing the hour hand across Jonathan's side.

The hunter staggered forward slightly but kept his balance, spinning about to face Aeon but staying back out of range. There was another shout from away as Charlotte summoned her own lightning attack against Aeon, who promptly sidestepped it, as well.

Suddenly, Alucard's sword cut across his back, causing–

Suddenly, Alucard's sword cut across the air where he had just been standing.

"Not bad," Aeon said, smiling. "Had you been but a Moment sooner..."

"Hey!" Soma shouted, sounding annoyed. "He's using time magic to avoid the attacks!" Interestingly, Soma sounded less like he was trying to inform the group of a danger and more like he was just complaining about how you can only equip one Miser Ring at a time in Portrait of Ruin.

"Oh? Galamoth's sight?" Aeon looked to Soma, actually looking surprised for once, even if for only a moment. "I did not expect that."

"You're cheating!" Soma stated accusingly, seeming to ignore what Aeon had just said.

Aeon sighed. "Please." He shook his head slightly. "This would be cheating." Twirling his weapon about, he thrust the minute hand into the ground (such as it was). "O Time, be still!"

"What the–?" Soma exclaimed as he found himself unable to move. His companions, too, all seemed frozen to their respective spots.

"Do you see?" Aeon asked, stepping slowly towards the boy. "You are powerless before Time. Even with Galamoth's sight you cannot free yourself."

"Tch...!" Soma thought for a moment as he gave the guardian of Time the iciest stare he could muster. He really hated tapping into his dark power...

Well, normal Soma did.

A red aura flared to life around the boy and his feet lifted off the ground as he placed his hands in his pockets and smirked.

Aeon looked at Soma in surprise. "How...?" he asked quietly.

"Didn't you know?" Soma asked condescendingly, his voice echoing off the nonexistent walls because as a Dark Lord, Soma can make that happen on command. "The Stopwatch has no effect on bosses!" He gestured outwards, banishing the effect on his allies.

Alucard was the first to react. "Soma? You...!"

"Don't worry about it," Soma replied, smirking confidently. "Just surround him and let's finish this."

"Hmph." Aeon looked more serious than before. "It seems I will have to put more into this than I'd originally planned." He cast his gaze across everyone. "Very well then. Follow me." He turned and thrust the minute hand into the ground – or at least where one would imagine it to be – resulting in a strange orange glow, which was left as a trail as the man dragged the weapon along.

"Why?" Jonathan asked, Vampire Killer at the ready.

"Sounds to me like you're just trying to pad out the chapter length." Soma's statement echoed evilly. "Which I'm not going to let happen!" With a gesture, a familiar trio of fireballs materializes and fire themselves at Aeon.

The guardian of Time, however, merely narrowed his eyes at the projectiles and they froze mid-air. "Do not make me laugh. The only property to consider is the Time one spends writing," he said condescendingly as he finished tracing a circle in the ground. A brighter orange column of light formed within the shape, and Aeon turned back to the warriors before him. "The door is open." He gestured widely as he began to shine and fade. "Now begins the Time Trial." With a resounding snap, his figure vanished and the orange light swelled and consumed the entire area.

Everyone scanned the area when their vision finally returned; it seemed they had been transported to a clocktower of some sort.

"What is this?" Charlotte asked. The obvious question.

"A trial?" Shanoa suggested, looking up at the seeming mess of gears that awaited them above.

"I would imagine so," Alucard agreed.

"Man, this is going to be annoying," Jonathan said, his voice suggesting as much. "Why do we even have to do this, again?"

Everyone looked at Soma.

"What?" he asked, sounding as though he didn't understand. His words still echoed, though.

"Soma," Alucard said pointedly. "Stop that."

Soma narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, staring at the dhampir. "I will not," he said evenly, before suddenly his expression returned to normal and he laughed evilly.

Jonathan uncovered his ears and replied, "Enough with the laughing!"

"Whatever."

Alucard sighed through his teeth. As always, they were getting nowhere. "Enough. Aeon spoke of a 'Time Trial.'" The dhampir looked to the others. "Whatever we do, time is of the essence."

"Right," Charlotte agreed. "But what _do_ we do?"

"Get to the top, maybe?" Jonathan said looking upwards. He stepped to a nearby railing and nodded. "Yep...that definitely rules out heading down..." The hunter was referring to, of course, the seemingly infinite descent of the tower beneath them, with nothing but the walls in sight.

As everyone turned to the nearest platform above them, they spotted a familiar white coat. It seemed Soma wasn't interested in working as a team as they got to the top. Not that anyone was particularly surprised.

"...After him, then," Alucard said evenly.

The initial progress was typical clocktower fun. Moving platforms, spinning gears, and inconveniently positioned spikes. And who could forget the Medusa Heads?

"Damn it!" Jonathan swore as he fell off a gear avoiding another of the accursed flying things. The hunter would just use the Gryphon's Wing, but the tower seemed to be constructed exactly such that there was nowhere to really jump, with gears and stone platforms above effectively forming a ceiling. Any place where there was space, there were a set of spikes along the top.

The hunter looked ahead towards Soma, who was having little trouble platforming with a nice shield of fire surrounding him. He looked back up to his partner. "Charlotte, could you use Stone Circle or something to keep these enemies off us?"

"I wouldn't have enough time to cast," Charlotte replied as she jumped between a set of two parallel gears towards Shanoa and Alucard, who had stopped at a larger moving platform. Jonathan let out another shout from below, probably having fallen again.

"Perhaps we could defend you?" Alucard suggested as he leapt to a larger spinning gear with a row of spikes awaiting any who weren't fast enough to counter its spinning motion.

"We'd need a larger area for that..." Shanoa said, considering the area the dhampir had jumped to.

"But I couldn't keep running against the gear while casting." Charlotte frowned from besides the other woman. Her expression changed to worry, however, when she saw Jonathan making his way up again, blood on the front of his face. "Jonathan, what happened to you?"

"Nothing, just a nosebleed!" he said as got rid of most of it with his sleeve. "I, uh...tripped, is all."

"Charlotte," Shanoa called to the mage from her position up with Alucard on the gear. She apparently had summoned a small stone cube, which sat on surface of the gear as though affected by gravity but not the motion of the gear itself.

Seeing what Shanoa intended for her to do, Charlotte jumped up and then on top of it.

Well, almost. Somehow, she had managed to miss the cube and land right to the side of it. When the mage tried to step up onto the cube, however, it didn't work. Her steps just seemed to slide around the cube and onto the surface of the gear. "Huh? What is with this?" she asked in confusion. It was as though the cube was some sort of object in the background of a two-dimensional playing field.

"Just stand to the side of it so that you do not slide," Alucard supplied as he cut down another Medusa Head.

"I will create more to replace them as they disappear," Shanoa added, walking in place to avoid being carried away.

"So I'll take this side, then," Jonathan said as he joined the others and Charlotte began her chant. "Don't worry, Charlotte! I won't let a single enemy harm that beautiful figure of yours!"

"O Earth, grant us your protection, a defense as immovable as the mountain... Stone Circle!" With a gesture, and focused use of mana, Charlotte summoned several large stones from the air to circle about each of her companions.

"Good. Let's keep on," Alucard said quickly. He didn't know how long the spell would last, but he would prefer to take advantage of it.

With the rocks orbiting like satellites around each of them, progress became smoother as the Medusa Heads became a non-issue. After some time, they finally caught up to Soma, who was standing alone on a very large, flat gear that was almost an entire floor itself.

"...told you, I'm busy," Soma said, sounding annoyed. It took Alucard a moment to notice he was talking on his cell phone again.

"Soma?" Shanoa started, but Soma made some weird gesture with free hand that Alucard could only guess meant he was busy talking on the phone.

"I know, and I don't care," Soma continued. "I'm _also_ busy right now. Later." The last word wasn't said as a standard farewell, but rather more condescendingly and suited to his current personality. The teen closed his phone and pocketed it.

"Soma. Wh–" Alucard began to ask, before the ground seemed to light up with some magic seal pattern.

"What the–!" Jonathan exclaimed, looking around but unable to guess what was happening.

"Do not try to flee," a familiar calm voice said, and everyone turned to see Aeon. "You have fallen into my trap and it would be best to stay."

Everyone found their feet fastened firmly to the ground, preventing any sort of attack attempt against the Guardian of Time as he slowly approached. Aeon paused, closing his eyes for a moment, before turning to Charlotte.

"Let us begin with the simplest." Charlotte let out a surprised cry as a sudden light surrounded her, preventing all but the slightest motion.

"Charlotte?" Jonathan exclaimed with concern as Aeon approached the mage. "What are you doing to her?"

Aeon did not respond, instead raising his free hand forward and pointing the palm at Charlotte, a soft glow surrounding it. "Fear not. This will just take a Minute." His assurance was at odd with the effects, however, when the mage made a pained cry.

"Damn it, how could you do that?" Jonathan shouted, struggling vainly against his restraints. After seeing it to be of no use, however, he did what he could, reaching for the holy cross. "Take this!"

Surprisingly, the Guardian of Time did not try to dodge. The cross's hit knocked him back a step, interrupting whatever he was doing. Charlotte fell to the ground, seeming to be unconscious.

"Not so great now, are we?" Jonathan couldn't help but remark despite his position.

Alucard watched from his location off to the side, conflicted. Though he did not wish to see harm done to his companions, he had his hope that a Guardian of Time would not act lightly.

"Hmph. You do not understand..." Aeon said, almost to himself. "Stop this foolish resistance or you will–"

Jonathan cut him off. "I do understand! I can see you are hurting Charlotte, and I wasn't going to let that happen!"

"Alucard." Shanoa said from the dhampir's side. He turned. "What do you think Aeon's plans are?"

Alucard looked back to the others. "He will fix the problems Soma has created." He looked down slightly. "We will be returned to our respective times, with events returned to their proper courses."

"I see..."

Aeon sighed, feeling a growing impatience with the hunter. "You do not understand the enormity of the current situation; this is not how things are to be. You and they," he gestured to the others. "Were never to meet."

"What is it?" Alucard asked, unsure of what to make of Shanoa's statement.

"I think I..." she began, before shaking her head. "It...it is nothing. Forgive me."

"How can you say that?" Jonathan countered. "You don't know everything!"

Aeon shook his head slowly. "Perhaps not. But Time is no small matter." He looked up at the hunter. "You speak without knowing what the consequences are for–!" The Guardian of Time was interrupted by a sword through his chest.

"Man, my plans don't get enough screentime," Soma said with a smirk as he withdrew and sheathed the blade. The spell that had been holding the heroes faded quickly, allowing Jonathan to Charlotte's side while Aeon fell to his knees, his weapon clattering to the ground.

Alucard had no words for what had just happened. Soma had somehow managed to attack and injure Aeon, and he had no idea what would come of it. "Soma...what have you done...?" he could only ask himself quietly.

"Oh...not bad..." Aeon said through clenched teeth. "But you have made...a fatal miscalculation. It is...a pity...you are not yourself to realize it..." He cast his gaze upwards. "O Time. Pray not...fall to ruin..." There was white flash, and Aeon was gone, a clock tick resounding just as that happened.

"Sheesh, so overdramatic. You can't defeat main characters," Soma remarked offhandedly.

The whir of gears was heard suddenly, almost as though Aeon himself had triggered them. A loud gong echoed through the tower, counting the current hour.

Or at least it seemed so, until the thirteenth strike. In time with that, the tower itself began to shake, as though it was going to collapse.

"We need to escape..." Shanoa stated, having made the obvious conclusion.

"But were do we go?" Jonathan shouted over the noise in response as he held the unconscious Charlotte draped over his shoulders. There were no available walls for _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_, nor any doorways to Suspend at.

Almost as if in response to the hunter's question, and rift opened before the group. It was rather difficult to describe it's appearance, as it didn't exactly have on. There was simply a well-defined area, vaguely oval-shaped, through which they could see another area. No borders, no magical glow. Just an imaginary line; an optical illusion born of the contract between the two areas.

"Huh. That's interesting," Soma said, moving towards the portal.

Alucard almost moved to stop him, but he couldn't discount the fact that he saw no other options. "This feels strange..."

"We don't have a choice!" Jonathan replied as he carried Charlotte through.

Alucard sighed slightly, supposing not. With a nod to Shanoa, they, too, stepped into whatever dark night might await them.

* * *

_Damn, it's hard to write scenes with six different characters. I can only hope I don't accidentally forget someone somewhere along the line (as jagged and discontinuous it is with Soma's glitching).  
_

_Aeon. An underwhelming death for an underwhelming game? _さあな。


	7. Ch 10 Far from our world

_Some dialogue contains a bit of spoilers for Tales of Symphonia. ...And it's not even a Konami game. Apologies._

_Took a while to figure out how to break this sequence into chapters, but I think I picked a good enough spot. I really only wanted one fight per chapter. I dunno why, exactly._

* * *

The hallway they entered was much more modern, with tile floors and beige painted walls.

"Where is this?" Shanoa asked the question on everyone's mind.

Charlotte looked over at a nearby bulletin board, which had several fliers attached to it. "Kirameki...High School?"she read hesitantly.

Soma raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you could read Japanese."

There a short silence before the mage responded, turning back to the group. "...Neither did I."

"Our first step should probably be to leave," Alucard suggested, though it was basically a command.

"OK! I'll just go ask someone for directions..." Jonathan started, glancing around a nearby corner and spotting a girl at her locker. "Hey there," he called out with a smile. "You're pretty cute."

"What is he saying?" Charlotte (quietly) demanded to the others from their position at the corner, furtively watching the hunter.

The girl turned to him, a curious look on her face which turned to a sly smile. "You're pretty handsome."

Alucard rolled his eyes and was about to intercede when a blue-haired boy in similar colored dress as the girl rounded the opposite corner. "Hey, Katagi–" he stopped short when he saw Jonathan. The hunter's odd appearance was probably part of it.

The girl turned to look at the boy. "Oh, hey, Murasame."

Murasame, as he seemed to be named, recovered rather quickly. "Who's this?"

She looked back to Jonathan. "He hadn't said his name yet, actually."

"Jonathan," he replied with a smile. "Jonathan Morris."

"Oh? A foreigner?" the girl asked, a bit rhetorically.

Jonathan hesitated for a moment, not certain at first why they would address him that way, before it became obvious. "Heh, yeah, that's right."

"Sorry," the other boy said, waving his hand in front of his eyes. "The anime haze makes it hard to tell by looks."

Before Jonathan could respond, however, a black-haired man wearing a similarly colored suit stepped up to his side. "I apologize for bothering you," he started, looking sideways at Jonathan before introducing himself. "Arikado Genya. We're looking for the office of the headmaster. Could you direct us to it?"

"No problem," the girl replied. "If you turn around and head around that corner, then down the hallway..."

"I can do you one better," Murasame injected with a smirk, pulling out a sketchpad and drawing something quickly. "Here, you take this."

Alucard accepted the document, which appeared to be a map. He nodded. "You have my thanks." He turned to leave. "Jonathan?"

"What happened to you?" a confused Jonathan asked once they were out of earshot of the students.

"I simply took a more suitable form," the dhampir replied. "It's a simple spell."

"Jonathan, what were you thinking?" Charlotte seemed to have been waiting for a moment to interject.

The hunter blinked. "Huh?"

"You were flirting with that girl!"

"I was trying to get information and–"

Charlotte didn't seem interested in Jonathan's excuses, though, delivering a smack across the back of his head via her book.

"Why did you ask about the headmaster's office?" Shanoa asked, stepping around the lovers' quarrel.

"I supposed it would be near one of the edges of the school," Alucard replied. "It would be strange to ask how to leave the building, unless it was extraordinarily complex..."

"Ugh, school is boring...how far is this Arikado?" Soma complained. It was a bit surprising he hadn't simply taken the Black Panther soul and headed around the building himself, giving a nice 'screw you' to caring about whether anyone noticed them.

Alucard didn't bother to respond, though according to the map they should be nearing it very quickly. Jonathan nearly ran into him when the dhampir suddenly stopped before an arbitrary room, which looked to be some sort of lounge. "Whoa, why did you stop?"

According to the map Alucard had, their destination was right before them. "It seems..." He flipped the paper over and saw a note reading 'Wait for me' on the back. "...we may have been tricked."

"What, really?" Soma's expression showed great amusement at that.

"But why would he want to meet us?" Shanoa asked.

"That's what I'm wondering too..." Charlotte agreed thoughtfully.

Alucard had no answer. "I do not know. But I suppose we may as well. Perhaps he knows more than he is saying." Everyone filed into the room and sat down, except for Soma who just leaned against the wall looking very bored.

It was a surprisingly short wait; it couldn't have been more than a few minutes before Murasame appeared in the doorway. "Well met, my friends." Not pausing for a response, he looked to Alucard and Shanoa. "Now. Explain everything to me."

There was a short silence.

"What do you mean?" Alucard replied evenly, staring at the teen.

Murasame sighed. "I mean, how did you get here? The only spell I cast was to summon Go–" His voice cut off when he noticed Soma off to his side. "Oh. Well then."

Soma raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with you? If you have a point, get to it."

The other boy blinked. "No...but there is certainly something wrong with you, Midorikawa..." He turned back to the others. "Tell me everything that's happened. You must've come from Castlevania, right?"

Alucard glanced down slightly, trying to assess the situation. This Murasame, whoever he was, seemed suspiciously knowledgeable about them. He did not, however, appear to be an enemy. The dhampir sighed. What more damage could they possibly do, with Aeon dead? "Very well."

"...Are you sure?" Charlotte asked from the other table where she was seated with Jonathan.

"Don't worry about me," Murasame assured. "I can explain more about myself in a bit."

"The year was 2036," Alucard began slowly. He took about half and hour to run through their 'adventures' up until this point, in some surprising detail.

Murasame's expression looked serious from the seat he had taken. "Kamiya...?" He sighed through clenched teeth. "Ok. So our white-cloaked friend Midorikawa here is running through space-time creating havoc wherever he goes. Is that right?"

Alucard simply nodded.

Murasame clasped his hands together and looked down. "Well now, isn't this fun..." He looked up again. "Now, I can help you out, but I'll need you to do something for me."

"How can you help us?" Shanoa asked sensibly.

"A sensible question. I guess I should expect no less from the Lady Kuwashima." Murasame stood. "Come with me, and I'll show you." He moved for the door.

"Wait, are we really just going to walk around out there, like this...?" Charlotte asked, referring to the group's appearance, no doubt.

Murasame turned back with a smile. "What are you talking about?" His tone was light, however, and didn't sound at all like a question. "You look fine to me."

At that moment, everyone seemed to notice that they were no longer wearing their original clothes. Jonathan and Charlotte now were wearing school uniforms matching Murasame's, while Shanoa now had on a business suit of some kind. It was not too dissimilar from Alucard's, whose outfit was the only one left unchanged.

"Hey, Midorikawa, wake up." Murasame lightly smacked Soma upside the head and he left the room. The white-cloaked teen had apparently been sleeping standing up, leaning against the wall. "Let's move out."

"Midori-who?" Soma blinked, looking around. He, too, was wearing a school uniform.

"Soma. Come with us," Alucard commanded as the others moved out of the room, following Murasame. He led them down several empty hallways and out of the building to the school's gates. Surprisingly, the street was also free of cars and he was able to head diagonally across to an unused parking lot.

"Okay. Here should be good." Murasame turned and looked to the others, who arrayed themselves before him, waiting exptectantly. "Now, everyone but Okiayu – stand back." Shanoa, Charlotte, and Jonathan did as he requested.

"Okiayu? Who are you talking about?" Soma asked, confused.

"...Stand back, Soma," Alucard said, and the boy reluctantly complied.

"I still want to know how Okiayu is," he stated, crossing his arms.

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan turned to the other teen.

"Okiayu. That name he–" Soma gestured to Murasame. "–keeps calling Arikado."

The hunter blinked, and repeated himself. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you deaf?" Soma said, sounding a bit exasperated. "Didn't you just hear him?"

"All right. Now please get in combat gear," Murasame addressed the dhampir.

Alucard narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"I didn't hear anything like that," Charlotte agreed from Jonathan's side, though she didn't turn from watching the other two.

"You sure you're not just hearing things?" Jonathan suggested, a smirk on his face.

"Just..." Murasame started, before thinking of a different way to phrase this. He gestured dramatically. "The purpose here is twofold. Show me what you can do, and I'll answer your questions. I'm sure you'll have some more after this...'demonstation' is finished."

Alucard sighed, staring carefully at Murasame, before finally nodding slowly. There was a blinding flash of light, an artifical wind, and then Alucard stood wearing his trademark black cape along with the rest of his combat attire.

"Okay," Murasame said, nodding. He closed his eyes and began making a few strange hand gestures before an aura sprung up around him, along with a powerful wind, the area surrounding them seeming to darken slightly.

"This power... What is this?" Shanoa asked quietly. It was unlike anything the group had every sensed before. Different even from what Aeon had employed.

The seconds ticked by, seeming to take minutes before Murasame opened his eyes and stared at the dhampir before him. "Alucard. There are few opponents who could match your skill with the sword and shield. But there is one I know who I think may be able to entertain you..." He smirked. "May space grant you a meeting, and time a moment to fight. Come forth, O Fallen Angel, Traitor to Heaven!"

A sigil flashed to life in front of the teen, and a shaft of light shot down from the sky above, so bright as to be impossible to see through. When in faded, there stood before Alucard a man, probably in his early 30s, with messy auburn hair and a purple outfit that looked like an RPG character's costume.

Alucard narrowed his eyes, staring carefully at his opponent, but saying nothing. He received the same treatment. After a moment, the dhampir tried, "Who are you?"

The other swordsman closed his eyes for a moment. "Give me your name, and I shall give you mine." He smirked slightly, but it was gone quickly.

"...Alucard," the dhampir said simply.

"Kratos," was the reply.

"Kratos and Alucard," Murasame's voice came from beside them. It seemed he'd moved around to a different position at some point during the spell. "I can't think of a more evenly matched battle. Two warriors who fight in similar styles... Will you give me a good fight?"

"...Very well," came Kratos's response to the teen. "Consider it my serivce to you." He reached for his sword and shield; a blade of fire and red crested shield. Alucard looked to Murasame for a moment before drawing his own favored sword and shield. If this was a test, he'd do what he could to win; Murasame had promised to assist them, and with a show of power like this, the dhampir wondered what he could accomplish.

"I won't hold back," Kratos said simply to Alucard, before leaping towards him and brandishing his blade. Alucard responded quickly, moving his shield up to block before shoving the other warrior's weapon aside and counterattacking. Kratos countered in the same way, parrying with his own shield before jumping backwards.

Both stared at each other for a moment they moved into close combat again, sparks flying as the Alucard Sword clashed with his opponent's flaming sword. The dhampir was thankful that the sword at least seemed material enough. The last thing he needed was an unblockable weapon to defend against.

Kratos turned slightly, swinging his shield around in an attempt to hit the caped swordsman, but Alucard ducked under the swing, bringing his own sword up to attack. Kratos parried again with his sword before leaping backwards, creating space between them. The purple-clad warrior stepped into a casting stance, and a red seal flashed to existence under his feet.

"O flickering blaze, burn! Fire Ball!" Kratos thrust his shield-bearing arm forward, palm out, and three fireballs sprung forth, heading for Alucard.

The dhampir's counter was clear. "Hellfire!" From his cape, a trio of fireballs spiraled outwards, colliding with each of his opponent's and destroying each other.

Alucard had barely a moment to compose himself before Kratos was upon him again, his weapon flashing out with a ferocity and fluidity that he had never before witnessed, even in the long years of his life. A mix of the orthodox and the unorthodox, that Alucard found himself needed to fight fully just keep even.

"...Your skill with the sword is unequaled," Alucard said after they had separated.

Kratos stared evenly back at him. "I would not say unequaled."

They moved towards one another again, yet for all their attacks neither could gain an edge.

Alucard, however, had more options available to him than just swordsmanship and spellcasting. As one of Kratos's swings neared him, rather than simply blocking, the dhampir allowed his form to become insubstantial as it faded to a white mist, allowing the swing to miss before he returned from the form of mist and opened his cape. "Dark Inferno!"

Surprisingly, Kratos had not lost his balance from his swing passing through Alucard's transformation; the move, however, had left him open to Alucard's spell. The only thing that saved him from a solid hit was his instinct to raise his shield, though the attack still did blow him back several meters.

"Impressive. In all of my experience, I have not faced someone as skilled as you." Even though they fought, it was easy for Alucard to have a respect for his opponent. Not many could challenge him, and fewer still fight evenly with him.

Kratos chuckled slightly. "I might say the same."

"High praise coming from the two of you." The two combatants turned at Murasame's voice. "Perhaps more than you each might think." He tilted his head slightly as his gaze passed between the two.

Alucard and Kratos spoke at the same time. "What do you mean?"

"Aw, it's so boring when I say it straight out..." Murasame looked away, frowning, before looking back to the others. "Alucard, 400-some year old dhampir who favors the sword and shield. Kratos, a 400-some year old angel of Cruxis who favors the sword and shield." He looked to Kratos. "Anyway...I've seen enough." He bowed dramatically. "I thank you for this unduly kind service of yours. Later."

No flash of light accompanied the next transition. The next moment, they were simply in the parking lot from before, as though nothing had happened.

"What happened?" Jonathan asked, sounding quite confused. Somehow, he seemed to remember Alucard fighting with another swordsman named Kratos, even though the hunter himself was not involved, nor did he even remember being there when it happened. "Did anyone else...?"

Charlotte frowned, not sure herself. "I know what you mean, but..."

"Hey...don't worry about it." Murasame spoke from a kneeling position, looking like he was catching his breath. "Think too hard about it and the fabric of reality itself by be torn asunder."

Alucard looked down at the teen. "First, please explain what you did."

Murasame got to his feet and nodded. "I can't be too wordy about it, but it should be good enough." He paused for a moment. "Basically, I summoned a warrior from another world."

"Huh?" Jonathan gave him a strange look. "How...? Why...?" He sounded like he wasn't even sure what he wanted to ask.

"Is it like the _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_ at all?" Soma asked, seeming genuinely curious for once.

Murasame stared at him pointedly. "The Succubus glitch?" He shook his head and shrugged. "Not really...well, maybe. It might not be that bad of a comparsion. I might press the 'a' key on the keyboard, but with your way you'd pound it with your fist until an 'a' showed up. Or say I write the letter 'a'. The Succubus glitch would be like scribbling all over the paper, then erasing until you have an 'a' left over."

"So you have a better way to access other worlds?" Alucard said, not sure really what to make of the analogy.

"Yeah, that's part of it. It's not something to screw too much with, though. You have to stay within certain bounds." Murasame looked thoughtful. "The other part is being able to do things within the world, too."

"The fight before?" Shanoa asked.

Murasame nodded. "Exactly. Like I said though, the more you push it, the harder is to do..."

"You can cross over into other worlds...?" Charlotte said slowly. "And manipulate them? That's..."

"And I assume you could use that power to...send us back?" Alucard asked, pausing for a moment as he tried to consider how to word what exactly he was wondering.

"Yeah, I could," Murasame gave his assent. "But I'll need you to help me with something first."

Alucard narrowed his eyes. "I already did as you asked," he said simply.

"Hey, if you want to blame anyone, blame Midorikawa!" Murasame pointed at Soma. "If _he_ hadn't gone around collected people from five hundred different time periods, I wouldn't need so much power to fix everything he did!"

"Who is Midorikawa!" Soma demanded.

"Enough, Soma," Alucard said firmly before turning back to Murasame. "So we will need to help you gain enough power, then?"

Murasame looked down. "...Right." He scratched the back of his head.

"What do we need to do?" Shanoa asked.

"...Well, I suppose I might as well just say it straight out, then." He sighed. "The girl from before, Katagiri Ayako. I need to win her heart."

There was a silence.

"...What?" Even Soma had only that to say.

"Is that supposed to an attempt at humor?" Alucard asked humorlessly.

"No!" Murasame insisted. "It's all about the goal!" He looked down, like he was trying to think of another analogy. "...I...have nothing." He looked back to the others. "Please, don't make me waste more energy making you believe me without having to convince you."

Alucard sighed through his teeth. "...Fine, but what–"

Surprisingly, the dhampir was interrupted by Jonathan of all people. "Hey, no problem! If you need–"

He was then cut off, in turn, by Murasame. "No no no no no no no! Not you! You will be not helping at all!" Jonathan looked hurt as the teen continued. "You're too similar. You'd screw up my work so far."

"Well, I can still give you advice," Jonathan offered.

"Oh!" Murasame suddenly looked up. "I've got it! The perfect analogy!" He cleared his throat. "Say we were all characters in some fanfiction novel, based on a video game. With fanfiction comes the power to bend canon, and take 'creative license', so to speak, but not for free. The closer we stay to how things are written, my power will restore, and the opposite if I use my powers to stray away." He smirked. "Does that make sense?"

There was a silence.

"...Please tell us what we can do about Katagiri," Alucard said finally.

Murasame blinked, having expected a better reaction. "...Right then." He looked thoughtful. "Well, uh, I think–"

Suddenly the sky darkened, and an ominous silence descended upon them.

"What...?" Charlotte asked aloud as they all glanced around.

"Rgh...!" Murasame fell to his knees, one hand clutching his head.

"Murasame!" Alucard said, going to his side. "What is it?"

"...Not good...!" Murasame managed to say. "I think I might have...screwed up...!"

"What are you talking about?" Soma asked, not sounding too concerned. "What's going to happen?"

The other teen gave a pained smirk as he looked over at Soma. "God Only Knows..." He paused. "Weapons ready, please..."

As though to punctuate his words, the dark clouds above flashed with lightning, threatening a squall, or at least some rain. What was slightly more attention grabbing was the figure that crashed into the ground a ways further into the parking lot, somehow landing only kneeling despite the extreme speed it had descended at.

"What was that?" Jonathan exclaimed, looking over.

Murasame got to his feet, but said nothing as he turned and slowly headed over towards the figure.

As they approached, they were able to make out the figure's appearance better; it was surprisingly similar to Alucard, with the all-black garb and silver hair. Murasame gasped when he looked up at them with turquoise eyes and a sadistic smirk Alucard would never wear.

"Who are you?" Alucard demanded.

The man stood, his smirk not faltering. "I...am the Chosen One."

* * *

_Things are getting out of hand. Will our heroes + Murasame prevail? I wonder._

_Trivia, for those who are so inclined..._

_1. (Easy) The game into which Soma and company have made their next Pitch Black Intrusion._

_2. (Easy) What is the reference in the title of this chapter?_

_3. (Medium) Katagiri Ayako and Jonathan Morris – Murasame claims they have a similarity, but neglects to mention it. What is it?_

_EX. (Easy) What's up with the names Murasame is using to refer to the other characters?  
_


	8. Ch 11 What is canon?

_Short chapter (which is really inexcusable considering how long I've been working on this), but I ask for input from my readers. A vote for the poll on my profile (as soon as I figure out how to work it) would be appreciated._

* * *

"Sephiroth," Murasame said quietly.

"He looks like some villain out of a video game," Soma chimed in.

A shimmering light formed in Sephiroth's left hand, extending outwards at least two meters before it formed into a katana. "Fear not. In death, you will serve a greater purpose." His voice was eerily calm, almost inhumanly so.

"Damn it...! Okay, Okiayu," Murasame shouted to the dhampir as he backed off behind everyone. "It'll be a tough fight but I need you to hold him off as long as you can!"

Alucard did not turn to look at the teen. "Of course. But–"

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

"What? You're not going to help?" Jonathan asked as he readied the Vampire Killer.

"I couldn't help you in a fight if I wanted to! All my stat points are in Art!" Murasame called back. "Three hours, a thousand words; something like that and I hope I'll have something to offer." Murasame made a cutting gesture in the air, seeming to form a portal from it. "Martel's divine protection on all of you!" Stepping through quickly, it snapped shut after him.

"What, really?" Soma remarked, sounding only slightly annoyed.

"We have to trust him for now," Shanoa said in reply, as she summoned a blade of some kind and cut slits along the sides of her skirt.

"...What are you doing?" Jonathan asked, distracted by the strange action.

"Mobility," she replied simply.

Sephiroth merely stared at each of them, smirking. "Taste the blade of a hero."

The next moment, he was lunging at Alucard, his katana colliding with the dhampir's shield and sending him skidding back a fair distance. Soma and Jonathan stepped in, but Sephiroth somehow managed to deflect both the Vampire Killer and the Claimh Solais, knocking the two off balance.

"What? This is stupid!" Soma complained, not sounding concerned at all.

"Surge!"

"Chain Lightning!"

Shanoa and Charlotte each cast spells towards their opponent, but he proved surprisingly agile, merely jumping out of the bolts' paths. A green aura formed around him and he gestured to the spell casters. "Thundaga."

The two only had a moment to react before tremendous blast of lighting crashed down where they stood, tearing up the ground beneath their feet.

"Charlotte! Shanoa!" Jonathan shouted, turning to where the spell had landed.

Meanwhile, Alucard grit his teeth and advanced again. Two of them had already been hit by a powerful attack which seemed to require no effort at all from their opponent. Worse still was the ridiculously long katana the man held; the range would make it difficult for the dhampir to approach.

Sephiroth stepped into an unfamiliar stance, holding his weapon's hilt by his ear and pointing the blade out, parallel to the ground. Alucard switched the hands he was using for his sword and shield; considering the stance, having his shield on his right arm would make defense easier.

Just as he stepped into range, Sephiroth brought the blade across horizontally with incredible speed, giving Alucard just enough time to block the blow. The dhampir staggered, but managed to hold the blade against his adversary's strength. Seeing the attack make no progress, Sephiroth spun about, aiming to hit from the other direction.

His weapon, however, was stopped by a smirking Soma, in front whose palm a pale magic shield floated. Sephiroth looked at the boy for a moment, before performing a lightning-quick flurry of blows, none of which were able to pierce the barrier.

"Awesome, huh?" Soma taunted. "Final Guard! Because I've noticed that _Fainaru_ is the trendy katakana we use here in Japan for _Saikyou_!"

"Soma! You–" Alucard started, but the teen kept talking.

"And don't think you can wait this out, either!" He tapped a ring on his finger. "Infinite mana."

"If you can do that, why don't you just hold him off that way?" asked Jonathan, who approached from behind with a healed Charlotte and Shanoa.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Soma quipped back.

Sephiroth ignored their words, instead leaping into the air and unfurling a previously unseen wing of black feathers. Apparently he was able to hover in the air with only one wing, as he did so while preparing another spell.

"Hey! Can you cover us with that shield?" Jonathan asked quickly, gripping the Vampire Killer tightly as he watched Sephiroth.

"What? No, that would be broken," Soma replied as if it were obvious.

"Then what do we do?" Jonathan asked, turning to the others.

"Wait, I have an idea." Charlotte spoke up as Alucard approached. "Remember the Dual Crush technique?"

Jonathan nodded in realization. "That's right! If we do one as the attack hits, we'll be okay!"

"How do you perform it?" Alucard asked. Though he had the Form of Mist at his disposal, he didn't know if Shanoa had any similar technique.

"Just focus your energies together, and go from there. It's like a large magic spell, but you tend to just know how it should be cast."

Alucard nodded. "Very well then."

"Jonathan!"  
"Charlotte!"  
"Shanoa!"  
"Alucard!"

"Ultima."

Green fire erupted around the heroes, covering the area around them in a glowing flame. But true to Charlotte's words, the flame could not touch the casters, and pattered uselessly against Soma's invincible barrier.

"You guys still–" Soma started as the spell's effects faded, but was cut off.

"Grand!"  
"Meteoric!"  
"Demonic Megi-!"  
"Cubus!"

There was a short silence as Sephiroth descended to the ground again.

"That didn't do anything! I can't believe you–" Soma was cut off again, this time by a gigantic magical cube that came screaming from the sky, crushing Sephiroth under a hexahedron-shaped glyphic mass that you can't stand on for some reason.

There was a longer silence while Soma stood there with his mouth open, his shield dissipating around him.

"...Well, that was stupid! Almost as much as somebody throwing peanuts up in the air and catching them in their mouth, instead of just eating them!"

"Excuse me?" Alucard replied, looking offended. At least for him, anyway.

Before Soma could reply, however, Charlotte spoke. "That was strange... I didn't expect all of our powers to combine together like that."

"It was really cool though," Jonathan added with a smirk. "And it looks like we did it."

"It seems so," Shanoa agreed. "What about Murasame?"

"I guess we'll just wait for him. We need his help for getting back, right?" Charlotte looked to the others as she spoke. Almost as if in response, a portal appeared beside the group and a now oddly-dressed Murasame leapt out, a sword in hand.

"Alucard," he said quickly, scanning the area. "Where is he?"

"Hey, we took care of him," Jonathan replied, looking the boy over. "What's with the clothes?" The school uniform from before had been replaced with some Alucard-esque medieval jacket and pants.

Murasame blinked, noticing the giant cube laying in the parking lot's center. "Truly? That's...not what I expected." He shook his head slightly, turning to Jonathan. "I went to, among other things, get some combat training to help you out, but it seems that wasn't necessary."

Punctuating his final statement was the distinctive ring of metal on metal, resounding from before the group. A large split was visible in the cube as it slowly dissolved to reveal Sephiroth still standing, looking only slightly worse for the wear.

"Aw, hell." Jonathan readied the Vampire Killer again. "Why do we always have to fight the guys that won't go down easily?"

Murasame frowned as he and the others stepped into battle stances again. "Tell me, Alucard. How was the fight? Rather one-sided?"

Alucard looked to the boy. "...I would say so, but why?"

"Then it's as bad as I feared."

"What do you mean?" Shanoa asked.

"Summoning Kratos was rather foolish of me..." Murasame continued, sounding almost musing before shaking his head. "I suppose I should explain later. I have an idea, but it isn't simple."

"Tell us, and quickly," Alucard replied. Fortunately, Sephiroth seemed in no hurry to close the distance between them.

* * *

_Reviews will be accepted kindly, as always. Again, I apologize for the short chapter but I wanted a bit of audience input. Hopefully it turns out well._

_Trivia:_

_1. Murasame spoke of 'putting all of his stat points into Art'. What is he talking about?_

_2. What is the name of the ring Soma mentions?_


	9. Ch 12 A miserable little pile of facts

_Soma winning the poll? I call hax._

_Well, a tie is a tie. At least Char is up there with him..._

_Still, a bit surprising Soma is so popular. In any case, I have to apologize for taking so long to finish this. Apparently, the thing with the highest priority never gets worked on. I need to have things more important than it to put off if I want to work on it..._

* * *

"I'm going to give someone the power to defeat Sephiroth," Murasame said simply.

Jonathan blinked. "What, you can do that?" They had all seen the superhuman fighting prowess of their current opponent.

Murasame nodded. "Yes. But it's not easy to do."

"If you think you are able," Alucard began quickly, "Then do so. I trust you have considered the options."

"It's all about how you invoke the power. So-!" Murasame called out, but broke off mid-name, his expression changing to surprise when he saw the white-cloaked teen fiddling with a thick book of some kind. "What are you doing?"

"Giving myself _that_ Masamune, of course!" Soma announced, not even looking up.

"You can't do that!" Murasame clenched his teeth and ran over, making to grab the grimoire from Soma's hands.

Soma, of course, would have none of that, and turned away, aiming to keep the book from Murasame's hands. Murasame, though, was determined to stop the white-cloaked teen, grabbing his upper arm and forcing him to turn back around. The motion caused Soma's writing hand to cut wildly across the page, the black line remaining for a moment before exploding into a blinding white light.

Alucard and the others shielded their eyes for a moment before the light faded, which seemed have effected everyone save Murasame, who now stood, alone, flipping furiously through the book's worn pages.

Alucard stepped quickly to Murasame's side. "What happened?"

"Ugh, damn it." Murasame shut the book, a resigned look in his eyes. "There's no time anymore. Char, come here. The rest of you, do what you can about Sephiroth."

Alucard and Shanoa nodded, moving off to engage the swordsman.

"What are you going to do?" Jonathan asked.

"Not important!" Murasame said, almost cutting him off. "Leave this to us!"

The hunter hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Okay. Good luck!"

Charlotte looked questioningly at Murasame. "What _are_ we going to do?"

"Channel magical energy into my sword," Murasame began, holding out said weapon and tossing Soma's book to the side. "I'm going to draw a sigil on the ground here."

"What kind–"

"Doesn't matter," Murasame added quickly. "Just go; I don't want to keep the others waiting."

* * *

Alucard and Shanoa leapt another slash from Sephiroth, managing to clear the blade's keen edge with no trouble. Sephiroth didn't seem disturbed, however, shifting his stance quickly and thrusting his blade towards the dhampir, giving him no chance to react as the blade went cleanly through his chest.

"Alucard!" Shanoa shouted, while Sephiroth merely smirked.

Simply being stabbed was not going to stop him, however. Alucard let his form fade to that of mist and float to the ground, where he returned to normal.

"Catch this!" Jonathan shouted from the side, hurling a large javelin towards Sephiroth. It was merely sidestepped, but it granted Alucard time to recover.

"Here," Shanoa said as she offered him a potion for his wound, which he accepted and downed quickly.

Alucard nodded his thanks before moving to engage their opponent again. Circling around quickly from behind Sephiroth, he and Shanoa leapt forward and attacked the cloaked man; Alucard, still wielding his blade, and Shanoa having seeming to have summoned some sort of hand-scythe.

Sephiroth had been launching fireballs at a dodging Jonathan, but seemed to sense their attack the moment it began, backflipping up and over them. Alucard and Shanoa spun about, Alucard bringing his shield up to defend the expected counterattack. The move was well-timed, as Sephiroth's Masamune collided with the Alucard Shield, nearly knocking the dhampir off-balance.

Seeing a moment of opportunity, Shanoa jumped forward and attacked again. Sephiroth, however, didn't even bother sidestepping this time; instead, he simply leaned out of the way of Shanoa's slash. Instead of countering, however, he leapt away.

Alucard was surprised at the action before he noticed a pair of shuriken bury themselves in the ground behind where Sephiroth had been standing.

"Rgh...This guy is too fast!" Jonathan complained as he continued throwing shuriken, moving up to Alucard's side.

"We don't need to win," Alucard reminded the hunter. "Only keep this up."

* * *

Charlotte stood quietly, eyes closed in concentration and a blue aura surrounding her. "How much longer..." She paused for breath. "Will this take...?"

"Focus," Murasame replied, not answering her question. He had been running back and forth and around Charlotte, his sword leaving glowing white marks where it touched the ground. The current result of his work was a large circle with arcane-looking writing in seemingly random positions. "Right, finished."

At his words, the aura around Charlotte faded and she fell to her knees. Murasame was at her side quickly, an elixir in hand. The mage accepted it gratefully and drained it, feeling some strength return to her.

"...What I _meant_ to say was," Murasame started, clenching his fist dramatically. "'This is not the end. This is just the beginning!' We're not through yet." He extended his hand to Charlotte.

Nodding, Charlotte took Murasame's hand and he pulled her to her feet. She glanced over at the battle with Sephiroth. No one looked injured, but neither did Sephiroth. "What do we do now?"

"Center, with me," Murasame replied.

* * *

Alucard watched as Sephiroth dodged another of Jonathan's subweapons and then another of Shanoa's spells. It seemed the silver-haired man was really just playing with them; but honestly, that was fine with Alucard. They were only trying to buy time after all.

The problem he foresaw was that they could only really hold off like this for so long; eventually, Sephiroth would take them out, if only because he got tired of toying with them. So what could the dhampir do? The answer came rather quickly, actually, like a blessed wind through the trees.

Sephiroth smirked as Alucard advanced on him before stepping forward as well. He swung the Masamune in another wide arc, aiming to hit the dhampir before he reached attack range. In a flash, however, Alucard had his hand on his own katana's hilt, bringing it up in a parry of incredible speed.

Sephiroth recovered quickly, but Alucard had not stopped his advance. The dhampir's lightning-quick swings forced Sephiroth to actual focus on defense, allowing Alucard to actually push him back.

Jonathan and Shanoa stood back watching; with Alucard attacking more times in a second then they could shake a Takemitsu at, the two were uncertain whether they should attack or if they would just end up getting in the way.

* * *

"I hear rumors that the Aulin bloodline has links to the Belnades," Murasame suddenly commented offhandedly. Charlotte started to ask what he was talking about, but he kept speaking. "...But that's silly. Let's make a name for the Aulin clan, shall we?"

Murasame extended his hand to the sky, a soft white aura fading into existence around him. Shaking her head for a moment to dismiss his rather random comment, Charlotte matched Murasame's position, her own blue aura flaring up again.

"O Supreme ruler that guides us to the dawn..."

"Pray hearken to our call..."

"Shine your soothing light upon our souls!"

"Grant us your strength!"

"VALKYRIE JAVELIN!"

With those last words, Charlotte thrust her hand forward, and from it shot a cluster of light beams, each only as thick as a sword hilt but shining nearly as brightly as the sun. At the same time, a magic seal appeared beneath Sephiroth's feet, rooting him to the spot just as Alucard jumped back away.

Sephiroth had no time to even speak in surprise before the light hit him solidly in the chest, appearing to pierce right through him. There was a moment of silence as he stood there, frozen in place with the sheaf of light impaling him, before the seal erupted in yet another explosion of blinding white light.

Alucard kept his hand hovering over the hilt of his katana as the light faded, but saw nothing but the remains of the seal before him. Indeed, even the darken sky had cleared up.

"Nicely done, my Lady," Murasame said to Charlotte, bowing dramatically before her before looking over towards where Sephiroth had been standing. "May the gods show him mercy."

"Whoa, that was Charlotte?" Jonathan asked incredulously as he turned. "That was awesome!"

"H-Hey," Charlotte stammered, her cheeks turning pink at the sudden praise. "It wasn't just me. Murasame–"

"–didn't do anything," the teen finished.

"What?" The mage's eyebrows went up in surprise. "But the sigil...?"

"...was just for me to funnel power to you. And the incantation was just for fun." Murasame's serious look turned to a smile. "I've done nothing but give you some power. It was your magic that defeated him."

There was a short silence before Alucard stepped in, deflecting the topic to a more important issue. "What happened to Soma?"

Murasame blinked. "Oh, right." He retrieved the discarded grimoire. "Well, I think he was absorbed into the grimoire here."

"What does that mean?" Shanoa asked. Alucard narrowed his eyes, recalling what had happened in the first chapter.

"Exactly how this book works is beyond even my divination," Murasame started, purposefully employing a cool-sounding word for some reason. "But I think he'll be fine...eventually." He began flipping through the pages. "In any case, I think having him out of the way will be more conv–WHAT?"

"What is it?" Alucard asked quickly.

"Who decided that Soma should be able to use the Succubus soul from Dawn of Sorrow?" The teen produced a pen from somewhere and began scribbling furiously. "That's just nonsensical! I mean, look at all these weapons with critical arts?" He shook his head. "You'd think that the dev team would have noticed that you could just Succubus Glitch straight into Ashtarte's room with that kind of set up."

No one else spoke, as none of them really had the slightest idea of what Murasame was talking about.

"Okay...take out all these dagger techs and change the Succubus soul to the one from Aria of Sorrow... That should handle that." He paused and blinked. "What. Who decided that he should be able to equip the Alucard Sword? That's only slightly less stupid."

"...Murasame." Alucard finally spoke up. "What about returning us to our proper timelines?"

Murasame was silent for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose I should handle that." He shut the book. "Well, whatever. It's not like they'd give Soma anything more abusable than the Succubus Glitch, anyway."

"...So?" Jonathan prompted, hoping the other teen would continue.

"Right. Let's head back to the school then."

"Wait," Alucard called, sounding confused. "Is that necessary? Can you not do it here?"

Murasame scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "Hey, I thought I told you already..." The stares he received seemed to indicated otherwise. "You know, about Katagiri."

"I thought you had managed to regain your power during our fight with Sephiroth," the dhampir replied.

"Yeah, but I had to use it again to let Char defeat him."

"Huh? But before you said you didn't–" Jonathan started before Murasame cut him off.

"I know! I just used my power to make it _possible_ for Char to defeat Sephiroth. That's all." Murasame spoke quickly, sounding annoyed. "Anyway, you might say we're back at square one. Minus one person."

Alucard closed his eyes and sighed. He'd hoped they might have be able to avoid this detour, but he could only trust Murasame on this. "...Very well. How long to do you think it will take?"

"Two more years."

A stunned silence persisted for almost half a minute.

"W-What?" Charlotte asked incredulously.

"But!" Murasame declared suddenly, gesturing dramatically again. "With Keima's Grace, I'll have it done in two hours."

Alucard nodded, seeming to have recovered rather quickly. "What do you need us to do, then?"

* * *

_1. That katana of Alucard's...which one is it?_

_2. Where can I find one in his original game?_

_3. Where can I find one in Harmony of Despair?_

_4. From what game does the "Valkyrie Javelin" come from? (Note: The one I'm thinking of is, in fact, a spell. It's also not nearly as powerful.)_

_5. To what does Murasame's last line refer?_

_And so Alucard and company minus Soma do get roped into helping Murasame with his love life after all. Can their vampire hunting skills somehow be used to win a dating sim? Find out in the next chapter! Or the one after, depending on whether or not I decide to write about Soma! He did tie the top poll spot, after all...  
_


	10. Ch 14 Fate moves in a straight line

"Right," Murasame said, turning to look to his audience. "This is all about 'events'. We need to make a series of events that lead up to a confession scene." They sat back at the student lounge in Kirameki High.

"Make events?" Jonathan asked the obvious question.

"Yeah. Interactions between Katagiri and me to develop affection."

"It seemed you were already good friends," Alucard noted, remembering the one time they had actually seen the girl. As could have been expected, he had returned to wearing his black business suit.

"Well, what do you think I've been doing since I got in this school?" Murasame asked rhetorically.

"But how do you just 'make' that kind of thing happen?" Jonathan continued.

"It's probably easier if I showed you," Murasame replied. He gestured to Charlotte. "Front, with me."

"What? Why?" the mage protested.

Murasame rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, what's with you people and not doing exactly as I ask? This is an example for your dear friend here."

Having nothing else to say, Charlotte came up to the front of the room and stood there, staring at Murasame expectantly.

He tilted his head slightly, looking confused. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Charlotte blinked. "What? I'm waiting for you to tell me what to do. You told me to come up here."

"Oh, I did? Heh, sorry." Murasame gave her an earnest smile before turning to the blackboard on the wall. "I needed your help with something." Taking a piece of chalk in hand, he began drawing some kind of rectangular array of numbers and variables on the board. "I know I don't really need to ask, but you know what this is, of course?"

Charlotte examined the board. "That's the augmented matrix representation of a system of linear equations, right?"

"Yup," Murasame agreed. "The problem is I don't remember how to row reduce it."

"Well," Charlotte started, looking thoughtful. "Do you know how to solve a system of linear equations."

"Sure," Murasame said, nodding. "But I want to use the matrix."

"Right, but it's the same general principle. Basically, you want to use Gaussian elimination to reduce the matrix to something row-equivalent that is in row echelon form."

"And that is?"

"You're trying to eliminate variables from each row. You know how you would use addition or subtraction of two different linear equations to try to eliminate a variable when solving the system?" At Murasame's nod, the mage continued. "You want to do the same thing here, just with the rows."

"Oh, I see," Murasame said, visualizing what Charlotte was describing. "So..." he stepped over to the left, closer to her, and drew another simpler matrix. "This one is pretty simple. Since these two equations are dependent," he tapped the board. "I suspect we'll have an underdetermined system with infinite solutions."

"Agreed. Now," Charlotte stepped up the board as well. "You see that here the two equations represented by these rows will cancel." She indicated the tow of them. "So how would you do that when using algebraic elimination?"

"Naturally, multiply the top by 3 and subtract it from the bottom."

"Perfect. Then you..." She glanced around, looking for a piece of chalk, but saw none. "Um...the chalk?" Murasame passed it to her. "Then you write this." She drew a tilde followed by another matrix with the final row replaced by zeros. "This matrix is row-equivalent to the one before; it basically says we can remove that equation without losing any information about the system, which makes sense as those two equations are dependent."

Murasame nodded. "Gotcha. So you just apply the algebraic operations to rows of the matrix, in a way."

"Yeah, you can think of it that way," Charlotte replied.

"Thanks for the help, then." He turned to the mage. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you know this sort of thing."

"Huh?" Charlotte looked at the other teen questioningly.

"You're the genius mage. It's a matter of course that you'd excel academically, Char."

"W-Well, it's nothing really that impressive... It's just something I've learned on my own." The witch looked down and blushed a little at the sudden compliment.

Murasame chuckled. "Even better then. 'Knowledge sought stands superior to knowledge given,' or something to that effect." He turned to Jonathan and smirked. "Affection points up!"

Jonathan blinked, having hardly followed the discussion the two had been having. "What?" He looked to the board, then back to Murasame. "Wait, how...?" He looked to Charlotte. "Really?"

Charlotte shook her head. "Of course not! That doesn't make any sense..."

"You see?" Murasame said to the hunter, still smirking. "She's denying it, so it definitely worked."

"You want to teach me how to do that?" Jonathan asked. The request sounded serious.

"Jonathan!" Charlotte practically shouted, looking rather angry. Brandishing her favored book, she knocked the hunter to the floor.

Murasame chuckled again. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. It's pretty obvious that she likes you."

"What?" Charlotte whirled to face the teen. Murasame held his arms up defensively, but the mage did not attack. "Hmph!"

"Well well." Murasame returned to his natural standing position. "It seems she still likes you more than she likes me." He leaned slightly over the table to peer down and Jonathan, who was still lying there on the floor. "She'll hit you, but not me."

"Huh?" Jonathan gathered his feet under him and slowly stood, rubbing the back of his head. "How does that make any–?" Jonathan's statement was cut off by a crash as Charlotte hit Murasame over the head with her book. Owing to his position, however, he crashed into the table before collapsing to the floor.

"Erm, I take it back..." Murasame mumbled, barely coherently.

"Is the demonstration finished, then?" Alucard suddenly interjected, from the nearby counter, his even voice contrasting with the previous speech. It seemed he had made himself and Shanoa some tea during the circus act.

Murasame reached up from the floor and waved his hand, but otherwise didn't respond as he stood. Somehow, the contact with the table had manged to result in a considerably bloody nose and possibly a cut lip. "It's–"

Charlotte gasped and looked at him with an apologetic look. "I...I'm sorry! I didn't mean..."

Murasame waved his hand dismissively. "I'll live." He looked back to Alucard. "What's important is–"

"Here, at least let me heal it." Charlotte stepped up to Murasame and chanted her magic spell.

"H-Hey, not so close!" Murasame protested, looking flustered even as he flashed Jonathan the victory sign behind his back.

"There," the mage said, nodding.

"Right!" Murasame nodded again, stepping back and wiping some of the blood off on his sleeve. "The demonstration is over."

"Fascinating," Alucard deadpanned. "Can we get back to your plan?"

"Right." Murasame stepped over to the counter, opened an arbitrary cabinet, and produced a towel. "Now for part of my plan I was going to be needing a building...but it–"

"What about a coffee shop?" Alucard spoke up.

"Huh? A coffee shop? It'd work but..." Murasame trailed off as cleaned himself up. "Wait, do you...?"

"I happen to own one. Ki–" the dhampir started.

"Kissaten Alucard, huh? I suppose I should have known it wasn't just a coincidence." Murasame closed his eyes and nodded, setting the cloth aside.

Jonathan and Charlotte looked at each other. "A coffee shop?" they whispered in unison.

"I'd like you to hold a table there somewhere for me," Murasame continued.

Alucard nodded. "Very well."

Murasame nodded to himself. "All right then. Everyone, with me." He started out of the room, the group following along behind. He led them down a few hallways before stopping suddenly.

"What is it?" Shanoa asked.

Murasame gestured wildly. "Quick! Back around the corner!" He turned down the hallway again. "Oh, Kisaragi-san."

"What's he doing?" Jonathan asked, trying to peek around the corner.

Alucard held his arm out to stop the hunter, motioning him to be silent.

"Sorry." Murasame sounded genuinely apologetic. "I'm busy with club activities today but we could meet tomorrow."

"What's up with him?" Jonathan whispered. "He's casual with us, but he meets this girl and poof–" The hunter gestured with his hands. "–he's a completely different person."

"Where do you want to go?" A girl's voice inquired.

"How about the Amusement Park?" Murasame suggested.

"Okay." There was a short pause. "I'll be waiting at the gate, then."

"Right. See you then." There was the sound of footsteps, and Murasame rounded the corner again. "Oh good, you're all still alive."

Charlotte spoke up, ignoring the comment. "What was that about?"

"Yeah." Jonathan agreed. "I thought you were trying to hook up with that Katagiri girl. Why are you going on a date with someone else?"

Murasame wave his hand dismissively. "It's tomorrow, so it won't be important. I need to keep her from getting annoyed at me, anyway."

"Huh?" Jonathan looked at the other teen questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, since I'm so popular and handsome, if I don't go on dates with all the girls I know I guess they feel cheated out of my presence. Naturally, they can't confront me about it so they spread malicious rumors that I'm a womanizing cheater. For whatever reason, everyone believes them so I've got to head that off before it happens."

Jonathan blinked silently at the explanation.

"That doesn't make any sense..." Charlotte said. "In order to avoid having rumors spread that you're a womanizing cheater...you have to be a womanizing cheater?"

"Yup," was Murasame's simple response. "But anyway, we're losing time. Head straight down this hall, turn right then keep going until you find the large blue double doors. Wait for me inside the room there."

The two glanced at each other before heading off.

Murasame looked back to Alucard and Shanoa. "Alucard. Are there any arcades next to your shop?"

Alucard shook his head. "Is there–?"

"But there's an alley, right?"

The dhampir nodded. "Of course."

"Okay then." Murasame nodded to himself, turning down the hallway. "You and Shanoa go and–" He cut himself off and quickly stepped back around the corner. "...Again?"

"Another...acquaintance of yours?" Alucard asked quietly.

Murasame nodded as there was sound of a locker opening. After a second, he suddenly looked to the dhampir. "Hey, go and just suck some of her blood."

Alucard was speechless for a moment at the sudden request. "...Excuse me?"

"Just enough to knock her out for a while."

"No." The dhampir's eyes narrowed. "You go too far."

Murasame looked thoughtful. "Mmm. Arikado, indeed... Can I have your cloak then?"

Alucard stared at the teen. Honestly, he had no idea what to make of him; first Murasame requests that he drain the blood of a random human girl, and upon being refused, asks for his cloak?

"It's all right, I've got this," Murasame said, sounding like he was trying to reassure the dhampir even as he held out his hand expectantly.

Slowly and silently, Alucard magically produced his favored cloak and passed it to the teen, who quickly wrapped it around himself and dashed around the corner. "Fujisaki-san...!"

"Alucard..." Shanoa started quietly. "So you are a vampire?"

Alucard nodded tersely, not making eye contact.

"That was the...taint I sensed on you before, then?"

"Hey, you want to help me here?" Murasame interrupted as he came around the corner, carefully holding a limp red-haired girl up.

Alucard's eyes widened. "What did you–?"

"Hey, hey, calm down. She's fine!" Murasame said hastily. "Help me carry her back to the lounge."

"Stop looking at me like that," Murasame said to the others as they moved down the hallway as quickly as they were able. "I didn't hurt her or anything."

Alucard and Shanoa said nothing as they lay the unconscious girl down on one of the couches.

Murasame nodded. "Okay, that's taken care of. She'll be fine here." He turned to the others. "You two – my table. I'm off." With that, he tossed Alucard's cloak back to him and dashed out of the room, presumably to where Jonathan and Charlotte were waiting.

Alucard and Shanoa stood there in silence for a moment. Nothing really needed to be said, however; both were clearly wondering exactly what Murasame thought processes were.

The dhampir sighed silently. "Shall we?"

* * *

"Is this a theater?" Jonathan asked as he and Charlotte entered the large room, noticing the lined seating and raised stage with red curtains.

"It looks like it," Charlotte said as she looked around. "I wonder what we're going to do here...?"

The two headed down to the stage, seeing nothing of interest among the seating area.

"I wish I knew," Jonathan muttered aloud, scratching the back of his head absently. "He's really been leading us all over... I have no idea how this is supposed to help him."

"He always seems confident enough," Charlotte noted. "Even though everything _has_ really been pretty strange."

"Apologies for keeping you waiting!" Murasame's voice suddenly called from the room's entrance. "Ran into some more trouble."

"What do you want us to do?" Jonathan asked after the other teen approached them.

"Back here," was the reply as Murasame stepped past them and gestured for them to follow.

Jonathan and Charlotte followed him back to a series of storage rooms, where presumably theater equipment was kept. Murasame opened seemingly arbitrary doors, peeking into rooms before adopting a thoughtful pose. The other two stared at him expectantly.

"Crap."

That didn't sound good, and Jonathan looked concerned. "What's wrong?" He and the others were sort of counting on Murasame's plan succeeding, after all.

Murasame smirked. "Well, I can make it work. Cliché isn't necessarily bad..." He turned to Jonathan. "Go into the second room on the left there and start taking the props and stuff out onto the stage."

Jonathan glanced over to the curtains. "You sure that's all right? No one's going to need this place for something?"

"It's fine, it's fine," Murasame insisted. "Get going."

"Okay then..." the hunter said a bit hesitantly as he began to do as asked. He'd taken out some strange sort of tree decoration and a suit of armor before he realized something. "Hey, why aren't you helping?"

"Don't worry," Murasame said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "Part of the plan involves you doing all the work."

"What, really?" Jonathan was understandably skeptical. He could understand maybe Charlotte, but Murasame didn't seem incapable of at least a _token_ effort.

"Really?" Charlotte said quietly to Murasame as Jonathan continued despite his complaint.

Murasame rolled his eyes slightly. "What, you want to help him? Be honest."

"Well, not really, but..."

"Hey, just be thankful you don't have to do any work." He started heading out the theater's back exit. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

Charlotte gave him an understandably confused look. "What? Why? What about Jonathan? And all of this?"

"Jonathan can handle it by himself, I'm sure. Jonny!" Murasame called as he took the mage's hand and pulled her along. "It's up to you~!" He looked back to Charlotte. "This is all according to plan, anyway."

* * *

Alucard and Shanoa quickly made their way down nondescript street. Alucard led, of course, since he knew where his coffee shop was located. The walk had been silent; Alucard was focused on his task, and Shanoa did not want to bother him with idle chatter.

It was soon, then, that they stood for a moment before the building titled "喫茶店アルカード" by the stylized sign atop it.

The dhampir produced a small tag, probably ID or something for the shop itself, and pinned it on. "This way," Alucard indicated a small alleyway. "The back entrance."

"Right."

Alucard pulled a silver key from his pocket, unlocked the door, and opened it into a rather nice-looking lounge of sorts. He frowned slightly (as different as that was from his normal countenance) before turning to another door that presumably lead further into the establishment.

"Excuse me," Alucard called to young man dressed as a waiter. "Where is the reservation list?"

The man looked at the two of them in surprise for just a moment before directing him to a clipboard hanging on the wall. Alucard thanked him and noted down some information there.

"What now?" Shanoa asked. Murasame, after all, hadn't mentioned what he would have them do afterward.

Alucard thought on this for a moment. "Perhaps we should return and see if there is anything else we can assist with."

"...I think we should wait here," Shanoa suggested. "Murasame and the others should be able to handle their portion of the plan. He may need us here to help when he arrives."

The dhampir considered her point; the logic was sound enough. Surely if Murasame needed specific assistance from them he would have asked them to come back once they were finished. "I suppose so."

"Should we wait out at a table, then?"

Alucard looked at her for a moment. He would have preferred to wait in the back, but it made sense; Murasame certainly wouldn't be coming in the back entrance when he did arrive. "Very well then." He wrote another line on the reservation list. "Shall we?"

Opening a door around on the left, Alucard and Shanoa entered into the store proper, where several tables were set up. They sat down at an empty table near the door they'd come through but within clear view of the main doors. Alucard caught the eye of one of the waitresses working behind the counter and made a gesture Shanoa didn't recognize.

Shortly, she approached with a pair of teacups and kettle, which she set on the table. "Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you." Alucard took the kettle by the handle and poured a cup each for himself and Shanoa.

* * *

"Um, you go to school here, right?" Charlotte awkwardly began once the two were outside. Apparently the door led to a hall and then outside. "Don't you have classes or something you have to go to?"

"Not really," Murasame replied. "Every since I got first place with 100% on the school-wide exams I always considered that bit to be completed."

"First place...?" Charlotte said, sounding surprised. "You did the best out of everyone in the school?" Murasame certainly didn't sound like someone who studied for his exams.

"Yeah," he replied nonchalantly. "Really shouldn't have bothered though."

"You know, that kind of sounds like something Jonathan would say," the mage commented.

"Like he'd ever have the opportunity." Murasame said with a smirk. "He'd need to pay attention in class first."

Charlotte grinned at that, imagining Jonathan studying. It didn't really fit well at all.

"I think maybe 70% for Jonny. Arikado would miss questions on purpose and probably get around 90%. Lady Shanoa would probably score 80%ish and you will, of course, be passing very respectably at 99%."

Charlotte looked to the other teen. "Hey, if you could get 100%, I'm sure I could too."

Murasame shrugged and smiled. "I disagree. How else would 'someone' be able to score higher than you?"

"Why would someone need to score higher than me?" the mage demanded as they stopped in the shade of a tree.

"Well...that's easy to answer." Murasame turned to Charlotte, looking down at her with a disarming smile.

* * *

"I'm sorry about earlier," Shanoa suddenly said.

Alucard looked at her, not understanding what she meant.

"I did not mean to pry about your powers..."

Alucard's gaze fell to the table. "Fear not. It is my fate; not your fault," he said quietly.

"What of Soma?" Shanoa continued. Alucard had explained the events leading up to now before, but he hadn't mentioned every detail.

Alucard was silent for a moment. The dhampir was reluctant to give out the details... And yet, he supposed, he'd already said everything of importance to her and all the others he'd been with. "...He is the reincarnation of Dracula."

Shanoa's surprise was evident, but she said nothing.

"In 2035, he entered Castlevania, fighting and winning against the power of Chaos sealed within. Though he is Dracula in a sense, he is also Soma; and Soma did not wish to fall prey to the darkness that consumed his former self."

"But he doesn't act like that kind of person..." Shanoa said as Alucard paused.

"Indeed. I suspect his time travel technique has corrupted him somehow." Alucard sipped his tea slowly.

"What about you?" Shanoa asked.

"As far as I am aware, I've suffered no ill effects," Alucard replied. "I pray this plan of Murasame's, however, will be successful. I do not want Soma to continue interfering with time as he pleases. Aeon may have been the only one who could fathom the effects of his actions."

_Aeon sighed. "You do not understand the enormity of the current situation; this is not how things are to be. You and they were never to meet."_

Shanoa was silent for a moment. "...Maybe so. It's difficult to consider how things would be different..."

Alucard set his cup down and closed his eyes. _Is it?_ he wondered. He'd spent no small amount of time considering the choices he had made over his lifetime and whether they had been worth it.

"But I think we can only do what we think is best," Shanoa continued.

"'Whatever will be, will be.'" Alucard murmured, his eyes still closed. Perhaps Shanoa was right. One could never have complete intelligence on a situation; it always ended in a judgment call.

* * *

Jonathan sighed as he inspected his handiwork. Really, it didn't look much better than it did before; instead of being a pile of random theater props in a room, it was now a pile of random theater props sitting on a stage._ I still don't understand what Murasame wants to do with all this._

The room was empty now, so he'd done what he was bidden. The problem was, he didn't know what he should do now that he was finished. Should he go find Murasame and Charlotte? Or wait for them? Walk around the school and try to create events?

_Well, whatever, I guess. _Jonathan thought to himself as he made his way after where Charlotte and Murasame had gone. _If he wanted me to do something he should have said._

The hunter made his way down the empty corridor, seeing nothing of interest except another door at the far end. Opening the door, he stepped outside to a sort of courtyard looking area. There were stone tile walkways around various greenery spots, plus a few benches and small walls scattered around. Murasame and Charlotte, however, were nowhere to be found.

Having no idea where to begin his search, Jonathan set out to look for them.

* * *

"Don't drink your tea so quickly," Alucard chided. "Sip slowly and relax."

* * *

Jonathan peeked around one of the school building's corners. From the scenery and sign in front, it seemed to be the front of a school. Quickly dominating his vision, however, was the large tree that sat in front and a little off to the left of the main entrance. Under the current afternoon sun, it cast a formidable shadow across the front path.

"Over there...that's...! What are they doing there...?"

Looking beneath the tree, however, he saw Murasame and Charlotte sitting together. He might have crept up closer, but there was no cover so he'd have to settle for just walking up like a normal person.

...Or creep up along the side of said building in plain sight.

"Well met, Jonathan." Murasame suddenly said as the hunter approached.

He blinked and stood up straight. "...What are you doing here?" he asked his question from before.

Murasame smirked evilly. "Seizing victory from the jaws of danger."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Murasame stood and stepped towards the hunter. "I win. Her heart is mine."

"What?" Jonathan repeated, his stare blank.

"Hey..." Charlotte complained as she stood up as well. "You don't need to put it like that..."

"Heh, sorry. You know how I am." Murasame apologized with a smile, causing Charlotte to blush again.

Jonathan shook his head, reminded of Soma back in chapter 2 or whenever it was. "Did you do something to her?" he demanded.

"Of course not," Murasame replied, a serious look on his face. "You know how this works."

"Jonathan," Charlotte admonished. "I'm fine."

The hunter, however, wasn't convinced. "No way. I don't believe you." His eyes were narrowed and his expression was resolute.

Murasame cast his gaze to the ground. "It has come to this, then." He looked back up at Jonathan. "So you want to fight?"

"Only if you make me," the hunter replied.

"Hey! Stop!" Charlotte started, getting between the two. "Why are you suddenly jumping to fighting? There's no reason to!"

"Sorry, Char." Murasame looked genuinely apologetic. "But I think this is important."

"You're right it is!" Jonathan said, reaching for the Vampire Killer. "Charlotte, please! Stay back."

Murasame nodded in agreement, and the girl did so, her countenance conflicted. She said nothing, however, as Murasame drew a sword that Jonathan suddenly realized he had.

"Before we start, I think you should know... There are eight generals of Valpha-Valaharian. I've beaten each of them in single combat, and I think most are stronger than you."

"Doesn't matter," Jonathan replied simply.

Murasame smiled. "Good answer. A hero's answer." He stepped into a battle stance. "Well then, let us dance!"

* * *

Alucard glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. _It's been some time. I wonder if Murasame and the others are handling things well._

"Shanoa," the dhampir addressed the woman. "I'm going to speak to Murasame. Please wait here."

Threading his way through the tables, Alucard opened the store's doors and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

* * *

_Tch... He's pretty good with that sword..._ Jonathan thought as he stared down his opponent. It didn't matter, though. He had to win – for Charlotte.

The hunter leapt forward, sending the Belmont Clan's whip toward Murasame. The teen stepped aside, and the whip cracked against the air. Murasame stepped in for a counterattack, bringing his sword forward, aiming to slash across Jonathan's chest.

Jonathan saw the attack coming and turned his momentum into a forward roll, passing under the swing. Regaining his footing in a flash, he spun and attempted his signature flying knee attack. It connected, knocking Murasame back and to his knees. Jonathan stepped forward again, aiming to press his advantage, but Murasame wasn't finished yet; showing surprising speed, he somehow managed to slip inside Jonathan's attack and deliver a slash to the hunter's right shoulder.

Not willing to give Murasame any further opportunity to attack, the hunter grabbed a pair of throwing knifes from his belt and hurled them at the other teen as he dashed away. Murasame rolled sideways, dodging the projectiles before charging again at the hunter.

"Cherry Rondo!" His sword moving in a blur, he cut the air countless times. Jonathan nearly took the move head-on, but a reflexive dodge left him with only a few shallow cuts. Reaching again for his subweapons, the hunter this time launched five shuriken towards his opponent. The wild arc, however, meant that only one found its mark in Murasame's side.

In an unexpected counter, Murasame slid the shuriken from the wound and cast it back to Jonathan, hitting the hunter solidly in the chest. Gasping in pain, Jonathan fell to his knees.

Murasame started to rush forward, only to find his attack suddenly blocked by a blue flash.

"In my mother's name, what are you doing?" Alucard demanded, his voice even but harsh.

"Arikado," Murasame said simply, jumping backwards and out of melee range. "You have done well in making it back here. I would expect no less–" He lowered his voice to the point where he only mouthed the words, but Alucard could see it clearly. " –from the son of Count Dracula."

Alucard narrowed his eyes. "So you were just manipulating us, then?"

"Yes. I am the main character called Murasame. This plot arc must be concluded with searing flames of my event trees."

"Why did you attack Jonathan?"

Murasame gave him a bitter smile. "For centuries, dating sims have thickened plots with love triangles. The hero, the love interest, and the rival. But, if two heroes were to fight each other..."

Alucard was silent.

Murasame sighed, continuing. "But your power is supreme among heroes. None other could defeat you." He looked to again to the dhampir. "And that is why I removed you as a threat by sending you away."

"But your plan has failed."

"Has it indeed?" Murasame replied with a smirk. "We'll see what happens after I destroy your fandom-granted power."

* * *

_Some questions:_

_1) "It is my fate; not your fault." So said Alucard. Or rather, I had him say. But I actually took this line from somewhere else. Where?  
2,3,4) There were probably more references in there, but you should be able to pick out three to Symphony of the Night.  
5,6) 'Cherry Rondo'! The name is taken from from one game (hint: one letter is different) , and the move is from another (hint: it wasn't a great skill). What are they?  
EX) Use Gaussian elimination to bring the following augmented matrix into row echelon form:_  
[0 2 1 | 1]  
[1 1 1 | 3]  
[1 0 1 | 4]

_And because everyone is interested (see if you can figure out the changes from the original script):_

村雨

よくぞ、ここまで戻られた。  
さすがドラキュラ伯爵の御子息よ。

アルカード

オレ達を操っていたのか、  
お前が。

村雨

いかにも。  
私こそは主人公村雨。  
このストーリー・アークにイベントと対話選択を導く者だ。

アルカード

なぜ、ジョナサンと  
戦っていた？

村雨

恋愛ゲームは古来より  
三角関係でプロットを展開してきた。  
主人公（ヒーロー）と、恋愛の対象（ヒロイン）と、宿敵（ライバル）と。  
だが、主人公同士が戦えば…？

アルカード

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥。

村雨

貴方の力は他を圧倒する。  
同じ性質の力なら、  
まず倒す事は出来ない。  
貴方を送れる事で、  
私の計画に邪魔な者を排除したのだ。

アルカード

だが、それもここまでの様だな。

村雨

それは、どうですかな。  
最後のいけにえとして、  
貴方のファン・サポートを捧げる！


	11. Ch 15 I can see the ending

Alucard turned as he sensed Jonathan approach at his side. "I think you'd best stay back. It would be more difficult to fight with both of us at the same time."

Jonathan shook his head. "I'm not going to just sit here."

Alucard closed his eyes for a moment. "...Fine."

Murasame looked at the pair and nodded. He made a strange gesture with his right hand and muttered something Alucard couldn't make out before suddenly leaping towards the dhampir.

Alucard parried the blow and counterattacked, but Murasame parried the blow himself before creating distance between them again. Jonathan moved forward after the teen, his own longsword in hand.

Murasame deflected several of Jonathan's swings before turning his motion into a spinning kick aimed at the hunter's head. Jonathan ducked underneath the attack and brought his around towards Murasame's legs. Suddenly, Murasame's sword was back low, blocking the attack; Jonathan rolled backwards, dodging the attempted counterattack.

"Magnificent." It was rather clear, though, that Murasame was not seriously complimenting Alucard's swordplay. "But now feel my unbridled wrath!" From inside his coat, Murasame produced a small paintbrush, wielding in his right hand like a sort of main gauche. "All that time I spent at the Art Club with Ayako wasn't wasted... Brush Art Technique!" He cut the air with his brush, leaving black trails in the air.

Alucard and Jonathan leapt sideways and apart to avoid the mass of magic ink that appeared from nowhere and sliced the space where he had been standing.

"What the... This is just like Brauner!" Jonathan shouted, though it was mostly to himself. Alucard, after all, had already seen what the attack did and didn't probably care who else had used it.

Alucard cut his way quickly through magic ink in front of him and dashed towards Murasame. The teen leaned out of the way of the horizontal slash and counterattacked, but the dhampir parried with his shield.

"How do you like this?" Jonathan shouted, and Murasame was forced to dodge away from Alucard, a pair of kunai burying themselves in the ground. Alucard stepped forward immediately, continuing to press his attack.

Murasame was considerably skilled; Alucard would admit that, but he was not the dhampir's equal...in swordplay. Alucard was only concerned for how Murasame's magic might factor into the battle; considering what the teen had done before, he couldn't discount some tear in space-time as a factor.

"You're pretty good," Murasame said as if reading Alucard's thoughts. "But you and I both already knew that, heh." Nothing further could be said, however, as Jonathan leapt into the fray as well, the Vampire Killer blazing as he swung it. Murasame and Alucard jumped apart to avoid the attack, but Jonathan spun around, swinging the whip over Alucard's head and down towards Murasame's chest.

The teen parried the blow, but the whip wrapped around his sword; a deadly situation for him. Thinking quickly, Murasame drew a wall of ink between himself and the others and began to slide his sword free. As he did that, he thrust the brush forward, drawing another ink line directly towards Jonathan.

The hunter's view was blocked by the first batch of ink, however, giving him no time to react the second as it hit him solidly in the chest, knocking him backwards. He kept his hold on the Vampire Killer, but Murasame managed to slide it off of his weapon so the hunter stumbled and fell to the side.

"Jonathan...!" Charlotte shouted worriedly from the sidelines, seemingly unable to decide whether to intercede.

Alucard again cut his way through the ink wall and engaged Murasame, catching the teen off-balance from Jonathan's earlier attack. The dhampir's first slash cut well, but Murasame stayed steady, parrying the follow-up attack and countering himself. Alucard simply turned to mist for a moment to dodge before continuing, keeping Murasame on the defensive.

The teen locked his blade with Alucard's, but the dhampir was stronger, shoving the teen backwards before knocking his weapon aside using the flat of his shield. Murasame stumbled backwards, blood staining his clothes, but gave a strained smile.

"Well...that didn't...work out."

Alucard stayed where he stood, not replying but keeping his weapons at the ready. Murasame, however, tossed his sword, sheath and all, at the dhampir's feet.

A voice interrupted anything Alucard would reply with. "Rgh! Murasame, where are you!"

The dhampir turned to see Soma running towards them from around the school, not looking very happy. He turned back to see also that Murasame had inexplicably disappeared.

"I thought he'd be here with..." Soma looked around, his anger fading into confusion. "What happened to Shanoa?" He scanned the area, seeing the remains of the battle. "It looks like you got into a fight with Brauner."

Alucard closed his eyes as he put away his weapons, not really wanting to explain what Soma had missed. "He and I were fighting," he said simply. "It seems he used your appearance to make his escape."

"What? Really? Were you winning? I need to pay him back for–"

"That's not important," Alucard replied, cutting Soma off. "We need to find a way to leave." He turned to Jonathan, who was being healed by Charlotte. The hunter looked well enough.

"What happened?" A familiar calm voice asked from the dhampir's side.

"...Shanoa?" Alucard started, wondering why the woman was here now.

"Murasame came to the coffee shop, injured. He told me you needed assistance, and that he was going to the hospital," was her reply.

Soma looked to Alucard. "Hey, I thought you were–"

"Yes," Alucard said to the teen, cutting him off before looking back to Shanoa. "His injuries were dealt by Jonathan and me."

"But why?" Shanoa asked, confused.

"I don't what his plan is now, but he did admit he had just been manipulating us and attacked Jonathan. We fought, and when the tide turned against him, he fled," the dhampir said.

"...I see. I apologize."

Alucard looked at her questioningly.

"For not stopping him," she elaborated.

Alucard shook his head. "There was no way you could have known."

"Hmph." Soma crossed his arms. "Well this is annoying. I'm going to go to that hospital, then." With that, the teen began walking towards the school gates.

"Wait, Soma," Alucard called. "We don't know where it is."

"I can find it just running around," Soma said back dismissively.

"You can't use your powers in public like that," Alucard stepped up behind him. "Don't be foolish."

"Well then what do we do? Buy a map? Ask for directions?"

"The latter," the dhampir replied, walking past the surprised teen. "Follow me."

* * *

Alucard stepped out of the coffee shop to where the others were waiting.

"How did it go?" Jonathan said, asking the obvious question.

"I have the location." Alucard turned down the street. "Once we get there, I'll speak to Murasame alone."

"What?" Soma complained. "No way! I said before I was going to–"

"It would look too suspicious," was the dhampir's simple reply.

"Yeah, well, we aren't sticking around here anyway..." the teen mumbled to himself. "I don't know why you care..."

* * *

Alucard immediately stepped up to the receptionist's desk as the group entered the hospital. He gestured for the rest of the group to sit down in the waiting area while he figured out the details.

Soma put his arms behind his head and leaned back in his chair, looking like he was going to try to go to sleep as the others waited patiently.

"I'm sorry..." Charlotte suddenly said quietly, sort of at Jonathan.

"Huh?" The hunter blinked.

"I'm sorry about before..." she said again, slightly louder and actually directed at Jonathan this time.

Jonathan looked at her and smiled. "Hey, don't worry about it."

Charlotte didn't meet his gaze. "I just don't want you to..." She paused, seemingly unsure of what she wanted to say.

"Huh?" Jonathan raised one of his eyebrows. "What are you talking about...?"

There was a short period of awkward silence as Charlotte didn't respond. She was saved, at least temporarily, however, when Alucard beckoned the group to follow him down one of the hospital hallways.

He responded to the curious looks before any actual questions could be asked. "It seems he is expecting us."

"But why...?" Shanoa wondered quietly aloud. This, of course, was the question everyone was wondering and none had the answer to. The room were Murasame was staying was in the far corner of the hospital, which meant it was larger than most of the patient rooms and gave a good view of the cityscape.

"Hey, you all came to see me," Murasame said, sounding a bit too cheerful considering his position.

"Would you please explain what is going on?" Alucard asked, carefully keeping his voice even. Surprisingly, however, the teen nodded.

"I can see the ending now." He glanced out the windows for a moment. "But it's not really something you care about, I don't think." He looked back to Alucard and the others. "In any case, you helped me so I'll send you back to your respective timelines." He got a few odd looks for this.

Alucard, on the other hand, gave him an unreadable look that nevertheless was readable as saying 'You didn't explain anything.' "Why did you fight with me earlier?"

"I had to say the lines!" Murasame replied, sounding insistent. "The reference was just _begging_ to be made." He smirked. "And that's really all."

"What?" Jonathan asked, confused. "You attacked me because of that?"

Murasame shook his head. "That was something else entirely. _That _was for my capture of Charlotte."

"H-Hey, I'm right here, you know!" said mage complained.

Murasame smiled. "And as pretty as ever, too."

Charlotte blushed despite herself.

"Why did you have us set up those...events for you, if you weren't going to use them?" Shanoa asked.

"They were useful in their own ways," Murasame replied. "Some were for Plan B or C, though."

"...But you aren't going to explain them." Alucard asked, though it was equally between a question and a statement.

"Nah, that would be most unkind!" Murasame said with a smirk.

He began a surprisingly detailed explanation of a few of the plans he'd made; the coffee shop was meant to either be a 'standard' date spot or used as an invite point so he could start another event there. Specifically, he said, he'd planned to have Jonathan _beat him up_ so he could look like he'd been mugged (or something) and do some sort of silly pity play for affection, which he was adamant would be very effective. "To be honest, I utterly forgot what my plan at the theatre was. Good thing it didn't come down to that, heh."

He went on to mention how he'd incapacitated Shiori, the girl from before, as part of some plan to have Charlotte come into class with him and take one of the school's term tests with him. According to him, their hairstyles and outfits were "not that different" and that he "doubted anyone would notice."

"But I stupidly underestimated Arikado's skill with the sword, here." Murasame shook his head. "Unfortunately for me, while fanon tends to make him quite godly in terms of fighting, even in straight canon he's one of the best. Better than Raizze and myself, for sure." He looked back to the group. "Now. I should probably see you off before Ayako gets here." He tilted his head sideways and frowned. "Where's Soma?"

The others turned to see that the white-coated teen was, in fact, missing. Alucard sighed.

"Right then," Murasame said, taking a deliberate breath. "Alucard, Shanoa, go and drag His divine self back here."

This left Jonathan and Charlotte awkwardly alone with Murasame, who slid off of his hospital bed and got carefully to his feet. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, presumably focusing.

"Just for the record, I'd like to note that while I _was_ seriously trying to get your ending, Char, I still totally ship JonathanxCharlotte." There was an almost audible pause as the two blushed a crimson red and Murasame raised a hand. "Showtime."

He snapped, there was a flash, and the two were gone. Rather anticlimactic.

Conveniently, the remaining three members of the group entered the room almost immediately after that.

"What happened to Jonathan and Charlotte?" Shanoa asked.

"Probably collecting cakes or something," Murasame commented offhandedly. "Shanoa, are you ready?"

She glanced to Alucard for a moment, who stepped backwards with Soma.

"You know, you–" Soma started to address Murasame, but was somehow cut off by Shanoa.

"Yes," she affirmed, nodding.

"It was an honor, my lady." He snapped again, and Shanoa vanished in a flash of light.

"What? That's it?" Soma said, sounding annoyed. Apparently the flashy light had distracted him from whatever he was going to talk about before.

"Okay..." Murasame began, looking to Alucard and Soma. "You're the last."

Alucard nodded, not particularly interested in whatever Soma had to say.

"Feels a bit weird to say this, but–" He shrugged. "Farewell. May you walk with Keima's Grace and fight with Soma's Strength." The teen chuckled slightly and snapped again.

He let out a long sigh of relief. "Whew..."

"This concludes our business, I think," a familiar calm voice said from behind him.

Murasame didn't turn. "You know, I'm still waiting for a Castlevania dating sim."

"I would not count on it."

* * *

_Konami made Tokimeki Memorial! A Castlevania dating sim isn't unreasonable!_

_So everyone is back where they belong! ...Which raises the question, what happens to the story now? SPOILERS: Murasame screwed up and unnamed other character that has been seen before didn't catch it either._


	12. Ch 13 Chapter 7

Soma scanned the area – if you could call it that – around him. It looked like empty desert in all directions except right in front, where a large pyramid stood before him.

"Where–" he started, but was interrupted.

"Hey," Jonathan said.

"Well met, friend," Alucard replied.

Soma spun around, looking for the source of the voices, but saw only empty dunes.

"It's up to you!" he then heard Julius shout.

Soma spun around again, still not seeing anything. "What the...? Julius? Where...?"

The teen felt something brush past him and he spun almost full circle before a blur caught his eye. He squinted and stared, trying to make out the figure.

"Here. It's up to you!"

Soma stepped back in surprise. "Julius? What in the Claimh Solais are you doing here? And why are you invisible...?" The teen reached out hesitantly to touch the Belmont, trying to see if he could figure out how the spell worked.

"Omnia...Vanitas!" Just before he could, Julius did his magic forward slide dash technique, this time accompanied by an annoying announcement of what was presumably the move's name. "It's up to you!"

Soma spun around again, somehow managing not to get dizzy, and grabbed for the hunter. His hand connected with a soft leather substance and pulled it free; it appeared to be a cloak of invisibility, considering how Julius immediately popped into view after it was removed. "Gotcha! This should be cool."

"Damn! Damn! Damn! It's up to you! It's up to you!" Julius repeated in the most obnoxious voice Soma had ever heard him use.

Continuing to do his best to ignore the Belmont, Soma shook his head and began making his way up to towards the top of the pyramid, knocking down a massive pillar of Bone Pillar heads as he did so.

"Heh, that was easy."

No sooner had he spoken, however, then a large boulder come rolling down the side of the pyramid directly for him. Luckily for him, he was barely able to dodge out of the way; the boulder scored only a glancing hit on his cloak.

"Sheesh, that was stupid." He turned again, and was forced to leap another boulder

"Omnia...Vanitas!" Soma watched as Julius phased through the boulder beneath him and ran to the base of the pyramid. "It's up to you! It's up to you! It's up to you!"

"Yeah, whatever!" Soma replied hastily, the Belmont's voice really starting to grate on his ears. He began making his way up the front of the pyramid, which was apparently a series of huge steps.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

"Out of the way!" Soma shouted as he cut down a random skeleton flinging bones before ducking behind one of the blocks to avoid a boulder.

"Gwah!" He was surprised, then, when he suddenly received damage anyway. "What? A bone?" He examined the implement for a moment. "Ruined my No Damage Clear, too." Soma stood and hurled it off into the distance, only to be hit in the back of the head by another boulder, knocking him to the ground.

"Nicely done!" Julius taunted as he again Omnia'd back and forth through the boulder. "It's up to you! It's up to you!"

Soma ignored the hunter and continued to make his way up the steps, ducking to avoid boulders and taking out more minor enemies.

"Finally," he said as he entered into a random hole in the pyramid's side. The path from there looked fairly linear; it descended downwards, with any side paths dead-ending obviously. Soma's dual Valmanways had no trouble ending the few other random monsters he met.

It wasn't very long until he came to junction; he could either head forward, deeper into the pyramid, or stay near the edge and head downwards. Figuring whatever he was looking for would be in the center, he started forward.

"No." Alucard suddenly said. "Here."

Soma stopped and blinked. "What?" He glanced around, but didn't see the dhampir anywhere, though he could hear his voice just fine.

"Here." Alucard repeated. "All right."

"Here where...?" Soma muttered as he continued forward carefully.

"No. No." Alucard said again. "Here."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Soma demanded to the empty room.

"It's up to you!" Julius repeated, also not anywhere nearby.

"Okay." Jonathan added. "You're up."

"Thank you." Alucard said. There was a slight pause. "Here."

Soma tried turning around and taking a step in the other direction.

"Impressive. Thank you." Alucard said, presumably in response.

Soma turned around again.

"No. No. Here."

"Oh, so that's the trick." Soma nodded as he made the connection. He made his way down the steps to the chant of "Impressive" and ended up in a larger open room.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

Soma looked around and saw four other exits approximately in each corner of the room, with one blocked by a flame pillar. He extended his arm to the closest and began pointing to each in turn. "One two three four, Valmanway is at the fore. Should that not be the case, then go with the Claimh Solais." Alternating through each exit as he went over each syllable, he ended on the fire pillar.

Not that something like that would be an obstacle for him. "Change!"

On the other side, Soma found himself in a small square room with a pit in the center and a purple chest on far end. Hopping over the pit, the teen kicked the chest open.

"God's Garb, huh?" Soma smirked to himself as he fished out the robe inside. "It's like the game knows what I should be wearing!"

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

"Now, let's see what's down here." Jumping down, Soma found himself in a small hallway which lead back into the room he was originally in. The two other paths included a long line of switches and another downward path further underground. He glanced down the hallway; it seemed to be a dead end, hitting some sort of yellow door.

"Well, that makes the choice easy." He made his way to the thin platform and dropped down onto the staircase below.

"No. No. Here. Here." Alucard complained again in his emotionless voice.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

Soma stopped for a moment, not sure what the problem was. That other path was a dead end, after all. He said as much to Alucard.

"All right. Here. Here."

The white-cloaked teen rolled his eyes and jumped back up, facing the line of switches.

"Thank you. Impressive."

"What, you want me to hit the switches?" Soma started forward, but when his foot depressed the first, he heard the telltale metal sound from above of some sort of trap. Like a true Castlevania master, he backdashed immediately, dodging the spike trap that fell where he had been standing.

"Here. Here." Alucard continuing calling at him.

"No way! I almost got hit by a trap!" Soma complained. "And there are more switches here than you can shake a Takemitsu at. I'm not going to figure out which ones are the right ones!"

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

"No. Here. All yours." Alucard repeated.

Then Soma had an idea. With the power of the Medusa Head soul, he could just float over the switches without having to know how to actually get past the obstacle in other situations. Soma nodded to himself. "I guess when you have so many abilities it's normal to not immediately see how to use them."

That said, he used Medusa Head to float across. He stood now before the yellow door, which seemed to be more of a grating than anything, and looked out in another wide open room. Across the way there was a platform with a switch that lead to another door just like Soma's, where the teen could see Alucard standing.

"I told you, it's a dead end." Soma looked around the room some more. "I can't hit that switch there because it's through a–" He paused and blinked. "–wall."

Of course. The _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_. Soma quickly searched his pockets for a dagger, but found nothing. "What happened to all my other weapons?" he cried out, aghast.

"It's up to you! It's up to you! Omnia...Vanitas!"

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Soma heard Jonathan shout from behind him, even though it seemed everyone's voices were the same volume no matter where they were. He turned to see the other teen standing on the other side of the line of switches.

Soma chuckled. "Good luck getting over here with–"

Jonathan jumped across the switches, nimbly stepping on exactly four switches, triggering not one of the spike traps. "Okay!" The hunter brushed a few strands of blonde hair out of his face and smirked, as if to taunt the other teen.

"Yeah, well, you suck," was Soma's response.

Jonathan jumped back over onto another of the buttons.

"Thank you," Alucard said in response. Soma turned to see the dhampir passing through his now opened door and onto the platform, where he hit the lever. The grating in front of the teen, slid up and out of the way, nearly causing him to lose his balance.

"Huh," was all Soma could say.

Alucard jumped past the teen over to where Jonathan was standing. The hunter and the dhampir then made their way across the switches and out of the hallway.

"What, that's all you wanted?" Soma asked, perplexed. "Well, whatever." Jumping after them, he invoked again the Medusa Head soul's power to float across the gaps. Following where Alucard and Jonathan had went, he stepped out into the familiar room.

"Nice work." "Impressive." The two said as they hopped out of a small alcove on the opposite side of the room before heading up the platforms back up where Soma had originally come from.

Not seeing anything else particularly interesting around, Soma continued following them up to the next junction.

"Hello." Julius said suddenly as he fell down in front of Soma.

"Whoa!" Soma stepped back in surprise. "Sheesh, Julius don't jump in front of me like that."

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

Soma ignored the repetitive comment and moved on, this taking the one path he hadn't yet: forward, into another hallway with the exact same wall decoration as the others.

"It's up to you!" repeated Julius as he Omnia'd past the teen and through the Cuthulu-inspired monster located down the hallway. "Goodbye."

"Wow," Soma said flatly as he approached the monster. "He's leaving enemies behind for other people to fight," he complained as he threw a puppet past the demon. Unfortunately, it landed a bit too close and the monster's evil aura blasted him forwards.

"Good thing I had on my Ancient Armor." Soma said as he continued on, leaving the monster behind. He smirked. "That'll show Julius not the leave monsters behind."

Soma hopped down into the pit in front of him and landed at the bottom, where he found Julius waiting. "Hello."

Soma just blinked at him.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!" The hunter hopped up onto a small yellow platform, and Soma scrambled up to follow him.

"Where does this go, anyway?" Soma asked tersely, hoping for some response other than 'It's up to you.'

"It's up to you!" Julius said anyway. "Soma! Soma! Soma! Soma! Soma!" As the platform reached the top of its rise, the Belmont jumped off and ran over to another platform which he quickly rode up. Soma moved to follow but the platform rose just barely out of his reach.

"Goodbye. It's up to you! It's up to you!" Julius said again.

Soma spent the seconds waiting for the platform lamenting the loss of his Hippogryph soul and cursing Julius's incessant chatter.

"It's up to you!"

Soma jumped up on the platform.

"It's up to you!"

The platform reached the top of the corridor.

"It's up to you!"

Soma saw Julius waiting for him across the way, staring with that annoying nondescript look. He dove for the hunter, reaching for the Belmont's neck. "You're done!"

Just before the teen could reach his coat, however, Julius became immaterial with a shout. "Omnia...Vanitas!" Soma spun about, growling. The hunter was just _going_ to say it was up to him; Soma could sense it. "Nicely done!"

Soma twitched. "What would you do if it _wasn't_ up to me?" he demanded.

Julius paused, looking a bit pensive.

Soma smirked. _Finally. Maybe he'll stay quiet now._

"Consider it done." Julius said suddenly. "Consider it done. Consider it done."

"Here," Jonathan suddenly interrupted from above. "You're up."

Soma looked up. The red-clad hunter was crouching on the edge of a platform looking down.

_Of course,_ Soma thought to himself. _I need to take care of the boss._

Forgetting about Julius,

"It's up to you!"

Ignoring Julius, Soma jumped up a small series of platforms, past a button where Jonathan and Alucard stood, and up to the open boss door.

"I'm on it!" Soma announced, brandishing his dual Valmanways as he jumping into Ashtarte's room. He couldn't make out what was in front of him very well thanks to the cyan waves dicing the air, but it didn't really matter since he'd just kill the boss anyway.

Ashtarte (presumably) said something as the teen attacked, but he couldn't hear it over the sound of his Valmanways.

Suddenly, he stopped blending. "What? Why did I stop blending?"

"Impressive," Alucard called from outside the room, as Jonathan jumped in and hit Soma over the head with the Vampire Killer.

"Nicely done."

"Hey! You can't attack allies, hacker!" Soma shouted in surprise. Unfortunately, his Valmanways were mostly useless against the hunter's armor, and the whip was doing significant damage. That is, until Jonathan ran out of the room. "Yeah! You stay out of the boss room, scrub!"

"It's up to you! It's up you!"

Just after that, a blast of wind slammed into Soma's back, somehow doing a large amount of damage and killing him anticlimactically. His scream made it a bit more amusing, at least for the others.

"Goodbye!"

Jonathan jumped back in the room as Soma respawned as a generic skeleton. "You suck! How are you going to win without Valmanways?" He went into a corner and ducked, ensuring he would be immune to all damage.

"Nicely done! It's up to you!"

Jonathan, on the other hand, jumped over Ashtarte then started throwing a ton of holy water bottles, which exploded into knee-high fires.

"Like that's going to do any damage!" Soma complained as he died to some stupid attack involving triangles. He ran into the corner and ducked again.

"Nicely done! Goodbye!"

To Soma's surprise, moments later the boss was defeated. "What? How did you kill the boss that fast?"

"Impressive," Alucard said.

"Nicely done! Nicely done!" Julius repeated. "It's up to you! It's up to you! It's up to you!"

Soma waited while Jonathan approached the chest. "Hurry up!"

"It's up to you! It's up to you! It's up to you!" Julius repeated repeatedly as he jumped around in the boss room.

As the other hunter opened the chest, Soma was magically revived. With that, Jonathan vanished into a flash of light.

"Hey, how come I don't get an item!" Soma complained, running up and examining the empty chest.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!" Julius repeated, and Soma noticed then that everything else had fallen silent.

"What's wrong with the level?"

"It's up to you!" Julius said again, causing Soma's eye to twitch.

"No..." the teen started incredulously.

"It's up to you!"

"No...!"

"It's up to you!"

"I can't be stuck here with Julius forever!" He tried to cover his ears, but it didn't make any difference.

"It's up to you! It's up to you!"

"Noooo!"

"It's up to you!"

Everything went black.


	13. Ch 17 Epilogue

_OCs (more) and real plot incoming! Take cover and pray for Alucard's victory!_

* * *

When the light faded, they found themselves standing in a small, softly lit room populated solely by a statue.

"We are back in Castlevania..." Alucard said quietly, noting the familiar dark aura of the place.

"Well, I guess he did what he said," Soma remarked, glancing around. "Whoever designed this room is fired." His appreciation for the architecture was clear. "Let's go have a look around."

Alucard was about to reflexively stop him, but the dhampir wasn't exactly sure where they were, after all. They'd likely need to travel somewhere to determine whether Murasame had indeed sent them back into their own time_._ The only exit being the doorway before them, Alucard followed Soma into the next room.

Soma had been accused of having bad fashion sense before, but clearly his detractors had never met these weirdos. All-encompassing, flowing robes of an incredibly annoying red color. "And who the Indra's Light are you guys?"

Alucard stepped up behind Soma and looked at the pair who was staring at them in surprise. The outfit was familiar...just vaguely so. Then he saw the dagger in the hand of the one, and the Heart Refresh in the hand of the other, and he made a connection. In a flash, his mother's family heirloom was in his hand and the Twilight Cloak fluttered behind him as he jumped forward, cutting down the cultists before them. "Soma, I fear I know where we are."

"What? What happened to my Valmanways?" Soma suddenly screamed, completely ignoring Alucard.

* * *

"_'A Pair of Dual Somanways +1+1 1 of 2'? What kind of crap weapon is this and why does Soma _start_ with it? ...How about a nice axe." Murasame scribbled a bit on the grimoire's page. "Try showing the world the strength of the Terror Bear...!"_

* * *

The teen held the insidious toy up incredulously, staring it as though as though it might burst into flames and shower him with iron sand at any moment.

"Soma?" Alucard tried again, not actually approaching in case the bear did actually explode.

He shook his head."My souls! What happened to Succubus! And Fish Head?"

* * *

"_An...Astral Succubus soul? Never heard of it... Guess it's true that you can't spell 'succubus' without 'u suc'..." Murasame continued writing. "And what the hell is an R. Final Medusa Buer?" He shook his head, turning a few pages._

"_Oh, of course." He stared at the page for a moment. "Death's Ancient Berserker Mail? Sounds balanced," he noted sarcastically, editing it out like the others._

* * *

"Soma," Alucard called.

"Grrrr... When I find him, he's dead! For real, this time...!" Soma clenched his free hand tightly.

"Soma."

"What?" the teen exclaimed, turning to face him.

Alucard sighed and shook his head. "I suspect we are not in 2036." Though if the dhampir's hunch was correct (and the robed cultists were highly indicative of this being the case), it wasn't far off. If he could find a useful location to employ _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_, it shouldn't end up being difficult to finish bridging the gap. The only thing he would want to avoid is a meeting with the current group making their way through Castlevania...

"Huh? Fighting...?" Soma suddenly said as he observed the door in front of him.

"Hold!" Alucard hurried to the teen's side, but was just in time for Soma to have already opened the door. On the other side, there was a group – four, by Alucard's count – in combat with the large monster that Soma immediately recognized as 'Gergoth'.

The two combatants closest to them spun, likely hearing their arrival, with each of them readying a sword. Alucard, at this point, concluded that his hunch was correct, and mentally put names to them.

The male teen on the left had dark hair and brown eyes. He wore a black cape not too dissimilar from Alucard's own, under which he had a similarly dark tunic, pants, and boots. Standard vampire hunter attire...if this were the 1700s, maybe.

The female teen on the right had Shanoa-colored hair, but it wasn't nearly as long, extending only past her shoulders. She wore something rather modern in comparison to her partner; a dark blue jacket, black pleated skirt, and a pair of thigh-high boots. Also appropriate combat wear for Castlevania.

Outfit choices aside, Alucard did recognize them; the left was Soryuu, and the right was Suzu of the Jingūji clan of vampire hunters.

"This guy again?" Soma said at the dhampir's side, not even looking at the others standing before him. "Whatever, I'm on it!" Completely ignoring the two before him, the teen headed directly for the monster.

Alucard stepped forward. "My name is Alucard, and my...associate is Soma. We are not your enemies." His gaze went past them to creature behind them. "We can speak after this is finished."

Soryuu and Suzu glanced at each other for a moment. "All right," Soryuu said nodding.

The three turned to face the creature, watching as Soma brought a two-handed longsword down across the creature's neck, adding a long gash to its list of injuries. Alucard stepped forward as well, brandishing his own sword and shield as he slipped out of the way of the monster's wild attempt to bite its attackers.

Soryuu and Suzu followed behind the dhampir, circling around the other side of the creature, which would make it difficult for it to defend itself.

"Vermillion flames, burn!" Soryuu paused for a moment to launch fireballs toward the creature, while Suzu kept moving forward, sword in a two-handed grip. Aiming for the unprotected ankles, she thrust twice quickly before leaping backwards, dodging the creature's attempt to turn and bite at her.

Alucard ducked around the monster's attack, delivering a pair of blows to the monster's legs before dodging backwards. As Gergoth recovered, one of the other combatants, this one with short gray hair and wearing about half of suit, slid underneath the creatures open rib cage and attacked with his fists.

Gergoth reared up and roared, firing a flurry of long, red tendrils at its attacks. He held up his arms as he hopped back, taking a few sharp hits to his body but protecting his face. The parts pulled back inside the creature as it slowly sunk down. Seeing a chance for a one-two, the silver haired fighter gathered his energy again, concentrating it in his hand. He leapt into the air, then dropped down toward Gergoth's head, driving his fist into its skull with a burst of energy. The creature roared again, then stumbled back, collapsing into a heap.

With the monster no longer a threat, Alucard and Soma faced the group the other four had formed.

Alucard identified the silver-haired one on the farthest left as Sougen Jinbōchō, one of Alucard's own subordinates, who worked in the government agency the dhampir headed. He was a werewolf, and was notable among his co-workers for his sharp tongue, but Alucard had not had many occasions to work with him.

One step right was a brown-haired, purple-eyed teen wearing a white windbreaker and jeans. Slightly more casual than what Soma was wearing, but really only by virtue of the white tailcoat. Alucard recognized him as Makoto, an incubus. Even if Alucard hadn't already know it, it wouldn't have been particularly hard for him to identify the folded wings on the teen's back.

Not bothering to wait for questions, Alucard started speaking. "As I said, my name is Alucard."

"And I'm Soma Kurusu," Soma interjected, feeling the need to introduce himself.

"Soryuu," Soryuu said with a nod, followed by Suzu and the others also introducing themselves with the names Alucard expected.

Alucard continued, not wasting any time. Having failed his first objective to avoid this situation in the first place, the dhampir had no choice but to adjust his plan. "We're aware that this is Castlevania, and are not aligned with cultists here."

"But what are you doing here?" Soryuu asked.

"We're _here_ because someone thought we should trust–" Soma started complaining, but Alucard cut him off sternly.

"Enough, Soma." Alucard stared hard at the teen, as ineffective as that had been in previous confrontations.

"Enough yourself, Arikado," Soma replied. "This is definitely not–"

"Soma!" Alucard said more sternly, though it was, of course, too late.

"Arikado?" Sougen said, the realization seeming to dawn on him. "Wait, what the hell are you doing here? And what's with the getup?"

Alucard turned to his subordinate. "That's unimportant. Remember your mission." At least deflecting that line of questioning wasn't difficult. Of the things Alucard needed to be concerned about, Soma was probably the highest regardless of anyone else's personality types.

Alucard suspected Sougen was going to roll his eyes, but if so the werewolf wisely reconsidered. "Whatever boss, but I'm asking later."

Soryuu turned to the hunter beside him, looking confused. "Suzu, do you know what's going on?"

She looked at him blankly for a moment. "Huh?" She shook her head. "No, I don't recognize him."

"Boss, huh?" Soma echoed Sougen's reply to Alucard, glancing between the two. "He works for you? That sounds pretty bad."

Alucard sighed. "Very well then. Call me Arikado." His gaze returned to the hunters and their group. "Soma and I will help you seal the castle. Our personal histories are unimportant, and in any case I would prefer to avoid them. Let–"

Interrupting Alucard was an unnatural roar from the side of the room, a strong indication that the defeated monster was, in fact, still alive.

"Move!" Alucard shouted, perhaps unnecessarily. The monster crouched and leapt towards them, crashing into the stone floor with a resounding crack. That seemed to be the final blow the flooring could take; cracks spread outwards from where the monster had landed and the floor quickly began splitting along them.

"The floor...!" Soryuu shouted, though it was a useless effort. The floor fell apart, sending Soryuu, Suzu, and a bit surprisingly, Soma as well, plummeting down into the abyss.

Alucard glanced around the remains of the room. Sougen and Makoto were still up here with him, the werewolf holding onto the rough stone wall and the incubus hovering in the air through the use of his wings.

Alucard looked down into the darkness. As things stood, he wasn't sure how the three that fell to the bottom of the tower would fare against Gergoth. While he could trust that Soma wouldn't kill himself off, he couldn't trust that the teen wouldn't get anyone else killed off. He wasn't sure what Sougen and the others were doing in this tower specifically, but he could make a general guess. "Sougen, take Makoto and search the top of the tower. I'll handle the lower floors."

With that, he hopped from his position in the doorway, probably the only location in the room that still had a stone of floor tiling next to it, and began his rapid descent to the tower's bottom floor.

* * *

Soma had been hacking away at Gergoth as the monster fell, but had failed to actually consider what would happen once he reached the bottom of the tower.

"If only I had the Red Minotaur soul, I could destroy all this junk...!" Soma complained to himself, lying prone under a pile of debris as he shoved a rock out of the way. "And my Medusa Head! If only I had my Medusa Head...!"

Suzu, apparently, had handled the fall better as she walked up to the teen and gave a token effort of assistance, kicking off a couple of the smaller rocks but otherwise ignoring him and moving on.

Once Soma had finished extricating himself from the rubble, he looked around for Gergoth, which was presumably buried under its own pile of stone. "Aha!" he exclaimed in triumph as he noticed a specific pile shaking before Gergoth reared up, scattering dust and debris.

Before Soma could launch his Berserker rush, however, a black shape crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Alucard was visible, rising from his knees.

"I sent the others to explore the upper sections of the tower," he said. "We'll handle the lower."

"Yeah," Soma said, nodding. "You guys handle this part. I'm out of here!" He hopped into the air, threw a skull, then kicked it forward, somehow gaining height. Immediately after, he threw another skull and kicked off that, gaining even more height. The white-cloaked teen repeated the process, slowly climbing up the well and leaving piles of skulls on the floor.

"Hey!" Suzu shouted. "Where do you think you're–"

"Let him go; it doesn't matter," Alucard responded, turning to face the monster. "I'll finish this." He jumped forward, darting along the uneven ground as though it were any other floor, his blue blade flashing out as he attacked the monster's legs, dying them a crimson red.

The dhampir dodged around Gergoth's counterattack, delivering another flurry of blows to the monster's unprotected ankles.

With an echoing roar, the creature finally collapsed, its body crashing to the ground and crushing stones beneath it. Pausing shortly, Alucard put away his weapons and returned to the hunters' sides. The dhampir produced a small blue flask from his cape and held it out to the hunter. "Drink this."

Hesitating for only a moment, Soryuu accepted the offering and downed the potion, offering his thanks.

Alucard nodded shortly before turning to the door on the far side of the room, stepping around the rubble. The wooden door opened to a short spiral staircase that led up maybe a floor or two before evening out into some kind of landing. Saying nothing, Alucard began his ascent, the two hunters following after him.

* * *

Having made himself a veritable staircase of the Yorick soccer ball-skulls, Soma hopped up into the doorway that would lead him further up the tower. He couldn't see why Arikado would have him run around the bottom of the tower when the top was just 200 MP and some platforming skill away. You don't even need Medusa Head unless you were a scrub.

Swinging the doors open, he found something a lot less impressive than what he was hoping for: a set of stairways. Running full speed up them, the white-coated teen moved to catch up with whoever Arikado had left upstairs.

The staircase eventually opened up into another stone room lacking any distinguishing decorations. Going right past the other kid with the wings, Soma headed directly for the next staircase, pulling out an axe when he noticed the Flea Men guarding it.

He jumped as he neared his opponents, bringing the axe down in an overhead slash, which the tiny enemies easily evaded. He swung again, horizontally, but the enemies just stayed low to the ground and hopped sideways, attacking the teens exposed flank.

Soma stumbled forward, gritting his teeth. They were too fast! There was no way to hit them without using Valmanways. He said as much in complaint before dodging forward and running up the steps, avoiding having to deal with the annoying foes.

Assuming the steps were the same length as the previous ones, it was about halfway up when Soma ran directly into a Disc Armor...which then proceeded to throw its weapon directly at him. Blood splattered on the walls, and Soma almost tumbled down the stairs, somehow magically being able to keep his footing. "Why are there enemies here?" he complained to himself. "This is a staircase!"

Sliding underneath another throw discus, Soma raised his axe for another overhead chop. This time, his opponent had nowhere to run, and the axe had no trouble cleaving through the armor. The moment that happened, it collapsed into a lifeless pile before bursting into flames and disappearing. "Stupid Disc Armor..."

He continued up the steps until he reached another room that was identical to the one he'd been in just before. "Sheesh, it's like I'm zig-zagging up a two-dimensional shaft."

Suddenly, the teen felt a tap on his shoulder. "Hey! Wait up for a second, will you?" One of the others from earlier, probably with some complaint.

He turned around, seeing Makoto staring at him. "What do you want? I'm already killing everything for you." Without waiting for a response, Soma turned and started to leave again, continuing towards the staircase straight ahead.

* * *

Alucard paused for a moment at the first landing; it was surprisingly empty, with another stairway continuing to spiral up and around the center of the tower and an open archway that led inside.

"We'll have to keep going up the stairs, I guess," Soryuu said, noting the obvious.

Alucard didn't bother to reply, resuming his walk up the staircase as he scanned the area for threats or other passageways.

"...Arikado," Suzu suddenly asked up the steps. The dhampir didn't stop, but turned his head slightly to indicate he was listening. "We've...met before, haven't we?" Her intonation was questioning, but made very clear what response she was expecting.

"_Can I help you?"_

"_I have something that belongs to you."_

Alucard turned up the steps again, silent for a few moments. "Yes."

Soryuu looked at the other hunter in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Suzu shook her head slightly in response. "Nothing important. Just walk."

"_Arikado. Please give the Aura Sword to my sister when she is ready."_

"_I will see to it."_

"What is it?" Soryuu asked again.

Suzu ignored him, and Alucard offered no assistance.

As he approached the next landing, the dhampir sensed foes. "Enemies," he declared simply.

The moment the group reached the landing, the threat was clear; before them stood a pair of spear-wielding knights who stood in front of a pair of skeletal archers. Alucard stepped back as the other hunters moved forward, turning and cutting down a pair of archers that were waiting behind where the stairs connected to the landing.

Sheathing his favored blade for the moment, Alucard reached for his Heaven's Sword, a weapon that would serve him well in dealing with the formation before them.

"Lightning magic is–" Soryuu began, just as the dhampir threw his blade, the sword piercing cleanly through the rightmost spearman before spiraling backwards into his waiting hand.

Suzu took advantage of the opening provided by Alucard's attack, coming around from the side of the knights, dodging arrows as she went, forcing them to turn to face her. This, of course, left them open to a flanking attack by Soryuu and Alucard.

It was fortunate that the monsters weren't particularly smart; instead of trying to anticipate the move, the knights waited until the swordsmen had closed the distance to attempt to respond. By that time, of course, they were able to deliver a series of blows that finished both the enemies off simultaneously.

The moment they were down, Suzu moved for the archers. Not even stopping to break step, Alucard was with her, and the now defenseless skeletons fell apart under the attacks of the pair.

* * *

Another Disc Armor was waiting for Soma a little ways up the stairs, preparing the same attack as it always did. Soma started another overhead swing, aiming to kill it the same way he had the last. His blow, however, deflected slightly off the armor before it threw its hand forward, sending the razor discus slicing through Soma.

"What the Hrunting! Why didn't it die!" Soma yelled as he landed heavily on the stairs.

"Impressive," Makoto said, the incubus's tone clearly sarcastic, as he advanced past Soma and towards the armor. A quick slice with the claws he apparently had and the armor collapsed inwards, Makoto's claws piercing the knight's armor easily.

"Don't worry, kid, it happens to all of us when we've just started out. I'll keep my eye out for slow-moving unarmored enemies so you can make yourself useful," Sougen said sharply as he followed Makoto up.

"What?" Soma practically shouted, lunging at Sougen. Like he'd just stand for being insulted by Arikado's secretary! ...That was a good insult! He brought his weapon down heavily over Sougen, who easily sidestepped the vertical slice. "You're just some secretary working for Arikado! Just started out?" He raised the axe and swung again, and missed. "Who do you think you are!" He swung the axe sideways, and Sougen ducked under it.

"Hey, calm down! I'm an ally! You can't attack me!" Sougen stepped back a bit, bumping into a table behind him.

Soma blinked at the words. They were surprisingly sensible for a secretary. Which reminded him that he may as well relay what Arikado had said before. "By the way, Arikado said we should explore the tower. I already took care of the enemies, so you take this!" With that, Soma turned and moved for the staircase again.

* * *

"Suzu," Soryuu started as the group walked up another staircase of exactly the same structure as the previous one. "Are you going to tell me how you know Arikado?"

"Why won't you just drop it?" Suzu said, a bit harshly.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Soryuu countered.

"I don't want to!" Suzu retorted, stopping as she turned to face the other hunter.

"_This is the Aura Sword."_

Alucard stopped walking up the stairs as he heard the hunters stop behind him. As preferable as this bickering between the two was to the bickering between Soma and Castlevania, it was getting a little irritating.

"...Why not?"

Suzu said nothing.

"_...? But... Did something happen...?"_

"I gave her the Aura Sword," Alucard interjected, turning slightly. "We spoke. That was all."

Soryuu glanced over at the dhampir for a moment before returning his gaze to Suzu. "Really...?" The hunter was clearly still suspicious, but for now, Alucard didn't plan on elaborating any further.

"Let's continue on," he said, looking back up the steps. It was as much Suzu's business whether she wanted to tell Soryuu what happened, and quite honestly, Alucard did not care either way.

"...Right," Soryuu agreed quietly, following the other two further upwards.

* * *

The next staircase was thankfully empty of cheap trap enemies like Disc Armors, so Soma was free to reach what appeared to the be the top floor of the tower. The floor had a domed ceiling with open-air windows surrounding it, marking it as an observatory of sorts. But the thing that caught Soma's eye was the conspicuously bright key left discarded on the floor.

_This is what I need!_ Soma said as he picked it up. This had to unlock a door somewhere in the tower. He turned, and nearly ran into the other two coming up the steps after him. "What are you doing! I said I was going to get the key and then you come up here anyway! I can't believe this!"

He pushed past them, key in hand, and moved down the steps. _And he thought I was "just starting." Following me around like they've never played the level before._

* * *

"What's this door?" Soryuu wondered as they reached the next empty landing. Said door was stone-colored with blue trim and no obvious handle.

Alucard looked at it for a moment. "It's magically sealed..." His own jewel to handle these kinds of obstacles wasn't reacting either. "I can't open it."

As if to answer, Soma came bounding down the stairs, nearly crashing into the dhampir as he came to a stop. His expression immediately turned sour. "Tch, if I hadn't had to do everything, we could've beat you here."

"What do you think this is?" Suzu started. "Some kind of race?"

Ignoring the hunter, the teen approached the door and kicked it. "Open up!" Surprisingly, the door glowed and did just that. "Heh, so the key does work. Just like I thought."

Alucard refrained from making any comments. "Where are the others?"

As if to answer _that_, said pair came down the stairs. Alucard nodded, and everyone started forward into the next section of the castle. The architecture changed from the white stone of the previous tower to a pale green marble tiling the floor and various pillars along the sides of the corridor. The walls themselves were a darker green, almost black, but reflected the ambient light rather well.

Soryuu called out to the dhampir. "Where are we headed?"

_They don't know where they're going...? _Alucard turned to look at him. "The source of the dark energy in the center of the castle," he said carefully. "I assume whatever you are seeking lies there." He returned his gaze to the path ahead. _Whatever the cultists' plan is, they certainly aren't trying to hide it._

"What _are _we looking for, anyway?" Soma asked offhandedly, looking around at the marble pillars. There were no enemies, so it was a bit surprising he hadn't simply ran off ahead again.

"Some cultist," Suzu replied.

"Alexei," Soryuu supplied. "He killed his leader and I guess he's going to take the dark power of the castle for himself."

"To what end?" Alucard asked.

Soryuu blinked. "...I don't know."

Alucard closed his eyes for a moment and sighed to himself. "I have a theory." He fixed his gaze straight ahead as the group climbed a small staircase. "From the artifacts I saw in use in the tower, I suspect he is planning to employ a dangerous ritual."

"What, another ritual?" Suzu commented from behind. "He's already has Castlevania's power, doesn't he?"

Alucard shook his head. "That's not it. This is potentially much worse. He is trying to bend space and time." Bend, of course, was a bit of a loose term.

"What?" Soryuu's eyes widened. "That's crazy...!"

"Perhaps so," Alucard said, glancing to Soma. "In any case, we'll have to stop him."

"Well, of course," Soryuu agreed.

This response was good. It seemed Alucard needn't worry too much about what his other allies were doing. As different as they were, Soma was still the only true wild card.

"Alucard." Makoto suddenly asked, but quietly and only to him. "What are you, anyway?"

The dhampir paused at the sudden question. "Is that important?" Alucard still wasn't willing to trust them with everything, however. As always, the less he explained, probably the better.

Makoto seemed to consider his response. "I guess not, but..." He trailed off. "I was just curious."

Sougen glanced at Makoto as the incubus fell back slightly and the werewolf himself approached Alucard. "So Arikado, can I ask why you're here now?"

"That can wait."

"Why? We're not doing anything."

Alucard admitted the point to himself and recalled what he could about the events surrounded this time period. "You requested assistance. When I sensed the castle's presence, I knew I must come myself."

Sougen looked a bit puzzled. "How'd you get inside? Is the door still open?"

"...It's a long story," Alucard replied, determined not to reveal what actually happened.

"Then what's with the 'we'? Who's the weirdo, a new agent or something? Doesn't seem to be much help." Said weirdo was wondering around far ahead of them, not really paying attention.

"Not precisely."

"I didn't ask what he's _not_. He's annoying. Should he really be here?" Sougen sounded almost like he was complaining.

Arikado paused, looking over the white-coated teen. "Decidedly not..." Of course, neither should the dhampir.

"Hey guys!" Soma's voice echoed through the columns. The area terminated a ways away where an intricately etched door stood in their way. It was certainly not as imposing as the one from before, but still twice as tall as anyone now standing before it. "It's a door," he stated.

"Astute," Sougen responded dryly.

Soryuu added nothing to Sougen's comment, but examined the door closely. It was more than just a random door; it had a strange energy emanating from it.

Alucard approached the door, also looking carefully at it. "This is a powerful dark seal..." he said, though it was mostly to himself. The energy was reminiscent of his father's own dark power. A power he and someone else could unlock. "Soma?"

"What?"

It seemed the teen didn't understand. "This is similar to the seal around Chaos...is it not?"

"Huh?" Soma looked a bit confused. "Yeah, I guess so. This has to be the place, then," he said, reaching for the handle. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, it didn't budge.

"Soma." Alucard stood back. "The seal."

"Oh," the teen said in understanding. Stepping back, he and Alucard extended their arms towards the door. There was a surge of power as Soma invoked the power of the Dark Lord, and a low hum reverberated for a moment as the dark aura reached a peak before slowly fading back to its original ambient strength.

A simple enough resolution. "There," Alucard said, turning to the others. "Let's go."

Soma opened the door into a larger open area with a clock face on one wall and a large trapdoor open in the floor.

"Who guesses that he's down there?" Suzu asked rhetorically, peering over the edge. It was a short drop to another marble room, this one centered around a large steel elevator that presumably went further down.

It seemed to sense the moment everyone boarded and rumbled for a moment before beginning a slow descent. The ambient dark energy grew stronger as the marble surrounding them faded from light green to a dark red. The elevator stopped at another large block of marble, this one sloping down on the sides before dropping off to the red floor. As they made their way around the large construction, moving down and then underneath it, the dark energy grew only heavier.

"He's right here..." Soryuu said quietly.

Alucard nodded. "Prepare yourselves," he said simply.

The group stepped onto a more elaborately decorated blue marble platform which must've been some kind of elevator as well, as it began a slow rise into the seemingly hollow cube.

They now stood in a room familiar to Alucard; the walls were painted a fleshy red, and the far wall had some strange occult design carved into it. A red robed figure stood beneath it, turning to face them.

The cultist – Alexei, Soryuu had said – looked genuinely surprised. "...How did you make it here?"

"You're not exactly great at hiding," Soma remarked.

"What are you planning?" Alucard demanded, ignoring Soma's comment.

Alexei returned to smiling confidently. "A wise question." He glanced over those assembled before him. "_Oderint dum metuant. _Let them hate, so long as they fear. A little fear can control the hearts of the common people. Mankind has its follies, but with power, one might effect change."

"You mean Castlevania's power?" Suzu asked.

"That," he started. "But there is more to my strategy than that. With what I've learned, space and time will cease to be an obstacle."

Alucard narrowed his eyes. So he indeed planned to use techniques similar to _Kurusujikuukanshouten'i_.

Alexei chuckled. "I can take power from more than this castle. I can take the power from _every_ incarnation!"

"Not while there is breath left in my body," Alucard replied, readying his sword and shield.

"Then, I fear," Alexei began, summoning dark energy. "You will just have to stop breathing." He smiled widely. "But six warriors... Unfair, don't you think? Allow me to show some of the power I've gained."

The cultist thrust his arm forward, and the room shook violently. Alucard gripped his sword tightly and steadied himself as the room seemed to change form, blurring out of focus before flickering back to normal.

The dhampir glanced around quickly, realizing immediately that everyone else had vanished. _What is he planning?_

* * *

_*Raises eyebrow* Still reading? How entertaining! At least, so I hope._

_Unfortunately (for Alucard), it seems Alucard and Soma has stumbled upon another plot arc. Alucard, as always, seems to know what's going on, but he isn't telling Soma or the readers! Wth, Alucard?_


	14. Ch 15i Information Search

_Utter omake. Meaningless and completely separate from the main story._

* * *

"Arikado," Murasame started, sitting down in front the dhampir's desk.

Alucard looked up from his work with a stare that said, 'Can I help you?' with the stipulation that he was not actually particularly interested in helping.

"I need you to give me a bunch of money so I can finance a game."

Alucard stared as if to say, 'Not interested.' He went back to his work.

"Like Tokimeki Memorial, except with _Castlevania characters_!" Murasame emphasized this as though it unified the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics in a simple, elegant way. "Tokimeki Dracula X Memorial, or something."

Alucard said nothing as if to say, 'Fascinating' in a sarcastic way.

"I'll go and collect what information I can," Murasame said. "I'll show you that this can work." With that, he stood and departed.

Alucard said nothing as if to say, '...'

* * *

"Jonny! Char!" Murasame said with a smile, approaching the pair in a nondescript hallway. The two hesitantly returned his greeting, rightly a bit suspicious of Murasame's sudden effusiveness. "What are your favorite foods?"

They blinked at him.

"Well," Jonathan started. "I like Cream Pie."

Murasame produced a small pocket notebook and noted something down.

"...What are you doing?" Charlotte asked, though she wasn't certain she wanted to know.

"Writing down your answers, of course. What about you, Char?"

"Um...Parfaits, I guess..." she said quietly.

"Excellent..." Murasame nodded, writing that down as well.

"Why do you want to know what we like?" Charlotte tried again, being more specific this time.

"I'm making an information database. This," Murasame said grandly, holding the notebook up between two fingers. "The most important tool in a dating sim hero's repertoire!"

* * *

"Belmonts!" Murasame said with a smile, approaching the group of vampire hunters. They sat around a large table – well, except Simon, who was so short he just stood on a chair next to the table. "What's your favorite food?"

"It's up to you!" Julius said.  
"Tasty Meat," they said.  
Whipping, Simon did.

"What about drinks?" Murasame asked after marking down a few things.

The Belmonts looked at each other in confusion.

"It's up to you!" Julius said.  
"Tasty Meat," they said.  
Whipping, Simon did.

Murasame blinked in confusion. "How do you drink that?" he asked flatly.

Leon produced a blender from behind his chair and Trevor grabbed a chunk of Tasty Meat from the table.

"It's up to you!" Julius said.

Trevor jammed the meat into the blender and Leon turned it on, the machine's blades magically seeming to not jam on the tough meat. They let it go for a few minutes as Murasame stared in surprise before Leon switched it off. Trevor dumped the contents into a glass Richter pulled from nowhere. Juste poured some water into the cup and pushed it forward for Murasame to look at.

"That's...very idiosyncratic."

* * *

"Hey Arikado," Murasame called out as he entered the dhampir's office. "Are you still busy?"

Alucard looked up as if to say, 'Can I help you?' with the stipulation that he was not actually particularly interested in helping.

"What's your favorite food?"

Alucard went back to his work.

"Hey, don't be like that!" Murasame complained. He glanced around the dhampir's desk, hoping to find some clue that could help, but quickly realized how idiotically futile that would be considering its owner. He narrowed his eyes. "Fine, I'll just go down to the café..."

* * *

"Oh, Soma! Excellent..." Murasame jerked to a stop as he passed through a T-junction in the hallways and saw the familiar white trenchcoat. "Your favorite food is curry, right?"

Soma stopped where he was, blinking in confusion. "Um...yeah. Why do you...?" He trailed off, staring at the other boy curiously.

Murasame returned his stare in kind. "What happened to you?"

Soma blinked again. "What do you mean what happened to me?" He looked himself over quickly but didn't notice anything obviously out-of-place.

"You're _normal_." Murasame stated, his tone of voice completely at odds with the words.

"I...huh?" Soma managed to say.

Murasame shook his head. "Well, whatever. Do you know where Mina is?"

Soma scratched the back of his head, thoroughly confused. "I, uh, think she went to the library but–"

Murasame cut off anything further. "Tch, well that's annoying... Where'd I put my Library Cards?" He checked a couple of his pockets before producing a small plastic ID card, which he held out and stared at it. "No, this is my real library card," he muttered to himself. "Need the magic...aha!"

"Wait, I–" Soma tried to speak, but Murasame didn't seem to notice or care as the card began to glow a soft purple. The aura grew to encompass the teen for a moment before collapsing into nothingness, leaving Soma alone again in the hallway. "–meant the school library, not the public one..."

* * *

Murasame glanced down another bookshelf-bracketed row in the public library, looking for the distinctive red and white dress of a shrine maiden. What he encountered first, however, was the green but still distinctive clothing of Maria Renard. He smiled widely as he greeted her. "Well met, my lady."

Maria nodded and returned the greeting before looking back to the shelves, presumably actually looking for a book.

"I have a question for you..." Murasame began, looking at the girl carefully. "What's your favorite food?"

"...What?" Maria looked back to the other teen, her blue eyes reflecting the same confusion that had plagued (most) of Murasame's previous targets.

"It's definitely in the 'sweets' category..." He smirked just slightly. "Isn't it?"

"Well..." Maria replied hesitantly, sounding embarrassed. "I...like cake..."

"I see." Murasame nodded, smiling widely again, though this only served to make the girl even more embarrassed. He noted it down in his notebook and turned to continue his search.

"Wait!" Maria called after him, a bit loudly though fortunately the pair was far enough from the entrance that no one would probably care. "Why do you...?"

"I..." Murasame started, but quickly trailed off. _Do I want to go there...? Ah screw it, I can just save scum this later._ "It's for something for Arikado. Later!" He chuckled silently to himself as he turned and disappeared around the bookshelf.

* * *

The next person Murasame encountered _was_ wearing red, but the other primary color of the clothing was black. "Jonathan? You again? I already met with–"

"Hey, Murasame!" Jonathan sounded suspiciously happy to see the other teen.

"Actually I was just, uh, going the other way and leaving, so...!" Murasame turned on his heel and started to march away quickly, but Jonathan caught him by the shoulder.

"Hey, I need your help looking for a book for Charlotte."

_'__Damn...pulled into an extraneous event...__' as He would put it. _Murasame sighed heavily.

"I didn't get any sleep last night thanks to her!" Jonathan's tone became more pleading. "Help me!"

Murasame opened his mouth for a moment then closed it again. Of course, the intended reading was 'She made me stay here at the library all night with her looking for it.' A smirk played at the teen's lips. "You know, most people would be enjoying...'losing sleep' with cute girl and not asking for help."

"Wha...What?" Jonathan replied, confused, before suddenly blushing a deep crimson. "That's not what I meant...!"

Murasame laughed quietly and he turned around to face the hunter. "Well, of course. Come on, stop begging...it feels so out of character." He looked over to the shelves. "What book?"

"What in Keima's name is this supposed to be?" Murasame complained. "I thought libraries were supposed to be _organized_ collections of books." He moved to look at the next row of books. "Did it ever occur to you to sneak away right now when Char isn't around?" He paused. "...I mean, you could've done it earlier when I met you two in the hallway."

Murasame turned at the hunter's silence and sighed. Jonathan was leaning up against the shelf, sleeping surprisingly soundly.

"...Great." He looked back at the bookshelves. "Sunk cost fallacy, go! I guess I've already wasted this much time here, so I may as well complete the event..."

"I''m still looking, Charlotte!" Jonathan suddenly blurted out after Murasame smacked him over the head with a book.

"Wrong book wielder, Jonny." Murasame said. "Behold."

"Huh? Wha...you found it!" Jonathan's voice started confused but quickly changed to surprise and elation and he quickly got to his feet. "Let's go tell Charlotte!"

"Where is she, anyway?" Murasame asked as he followed the hunter.

"She was looking something else up back here..." Jonathan said as he followed and aisle between the shelves to a more open area with a few tables scattered around.

"Charlotte, we–" Jonathan started, but was quickly cut off Murasame who covered his mouth and told him to be quiet.

"_Look_," he said quietly, indicating the girl. "She's asleep." Indeed, Charlotte was sitting at one of the far wooden tables, using an open book as a pillow.

"I wish I had a camera..." Jonathan whispered as they crept closer.

Murasame smiled. "Welcome to the twenty-first century," he said as he produced his cell phone. "This'll be perfect for an event CG."

"What?" Jonathan looked at the other teen.

Murasame waved the hunter's question off. "Keep quiet."

Jonathan stared at the other teen for a moment as he debated what he should do.

"...Perfect," Murasame said with a smile, rolling the katakana off his tongue in triumph.

"Hey, listen, you can't do this!" Jonathan started, still whispering but definitely on the higher end of that scale. "If Charlotte finds out she'll kill you...!"

Murasame chuckled, balking at the threat. "Kill me? Here in animeland?" His smirk widened. "I've lived through my own execution so–" He was cut short when the two heard Charlotte stirring in front of them.

"...What were you doing?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she stood.

"W-Wait! Listen!" Jonathan jumped up, stepped back slowly. "We, uh, found your book!"

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "'We'?"

Jonathan looked to his left and found that Murasame was no longer beside him. "Um, well..." At least he had the courtesy to leave the book behind.

* * *

Murasame made sure to round a couple corners before stopping to catch his breath and pulling out his notebook, noting down the details of the event. "At least Jonathan is kind enough to take a hit for the team." He shrugged to himself. "He's probably used to the injuries, anyway."

"Murasame."

He jumped at the sound of his name and spun to see Arikado standing further down the alley. "Oh, Arikado." He sighed in relief. "Well met. Did you finally–"

Arikado reached into his inside suit pocket and produced a few papers. "Here."

Murasame accepted them with confusion, looking down at them for a moment before turning back to the dhampir. "What are these?"

Arikado said nothing as if to say, 'It should be obvious by inspection.'

Murasame flipped the papers around in his hands so they were right-side up and took a look. It was some kind of letter, attached to some kind of form via some kind of stable. He scanned the letter quickly, as it was short and to the point.

'Kratos is 4000, not 400. Rather large difference.'

Murasame looked back at Arikado. "What? The guy didn't even sign his letter! They don't know what they're talking about."

Alucard stared at the teen as if to say, 'I did my own research and confirmed it. Admit your error.'

"Come on, who really cares about a minor factual error?" He looked back up at the dhampir. "Anyway, I've been working on getting information for the game!" Arikado was silent, so Murasame continued. "I'd say with this much data and event ideas, we could put together something great!"

"Do it on your own time and with your own funding, please," Arikado replied. "I do not invest in frivolous exploits."

Murasame had no fast response to that, and the dhampir turned, retreating into the alley.

"Tch..." The teen shook his head. "I'll find a way... My research will not go to waste." He looked skyward. "I will see through something worthy of the Capturing God's time...or die trying."

* * *

_Well, that took forever. My deepest apologies to anyone who was waiting eagerly, and again to anyone who was hoping for the actual story to continue._


	15. Ch 18 Envelopment

_Sorry for being gone so long, but I was working on Murasame's Castlevania dating sim._

_Please observe rather long chapter. Hope it helps make up for the long absence._

* * *

Soma glanced around the now-empty room, not sure what had just happened.

Shortly, a black shape took form in the far corner of the room, staying there for a moment before jogging towards him.

"Hey!" Soma remarked as the figure came into full view. "It's a copy of me!"

"I'm on it!" the doppelgänger said, running directly at him and brandishing a pair of Dual Valmanways +1(each) in both hands. Soma quickly tried to counter with his own Valmanways, only to realize he didn't actually have them.

The doppelgänger's attacks did practically no damage, but sent Soma flying backwards until he eventually hit the back wall. With no Valmanways or R. Final Medusa Buer, there was absolutely nothing Soma could do against the onslaught of 1s. Nope, none of the other souls he had would be useful under _any_ circumstances, much less these.

* * *

Alucard scanned the now-empty room, trying to figure out what had just happened. Clearly Alexei was trying to split them up, but how would he attack them after that?

He found his answer quickly when a black shape formed opposite him in the room, materializing as what he could clearly see was a doppelgänger. Alucard narrowed his eyes slightly, as he had dealt with threats like this before.

From his coat, the dhampir produced a flask of holy water and threw it outwards and waited until his opponent ran blindly into the flames it left behind. While the shadow recovered, Alucard leapt into the air and his clone countered by jumping as well. Alucard simply delivered a sharp downward kick to his opponent's head, sending it flying backwards while Alucard landed gracefully.

From his coat, the dhampir produced a flask of holy water and threw it outwards and waited until his opponent ran blindly into the flames it left behind. While the shadow recovered, Alucard leapt into the air and his clone countered by jumping as well. Alucard simply delivered a sharp downward kick to his opponent's head, sending it flying backwards while Alucard landed gracefully.

From his coat, the dhampir produced a flask of holy water and repeated the process for a third time, to the exact same result. Occasionally their positions would be shifting slightly relative to the walls of the room, but he had no troubles accounting for that as the pattern continued until he vanquished the creature.

Alucard scanned the now-empty room but saw nothing of particular interest. It looked exactly the same as it had before, with no obvious other exits besides the way the group had entered first, and that was unlikely to help him any.

After continuing to be hit into a wall for several minutes, Soma finally decided to do something other than complain about not having a weapon identical to a Valmanway+1.

In between each 1 damage he received, he checked his pockets to see if there was anything useful.

"Galian Sword..." 1 "Marsil..." 1 "Stellar Sword..." 1 "All these" 1 "weapons suck!" he complained, taking another 1 damage.

"Huh, what are these cards?" Soma remarked as he discovered a pile of them. He kind of remembered one of those guys they had just met using them as weapons, so he might as well give it a shot. He grabbed a pair, decorated with some guy with a sword and shield and a unicorn, respectively, and threw them at his opponent.

The doppelgänger's blending attacks cut the cards to pieces.

"That's stupid!" Soma complained as he continued to take 1 damage. "Are they only for spells or something!?" He pulled out another pair of cards, these ones with pictures of a guy with a thunderbolt and a golem. "Semi-Anti-Shōrikiyōfu!"

There was an actually an effect this time, namely the cards glowing, but Soma still got hit for 1 damage.

"What did they even do!?" he complained. Then quickly realized he was not continuing to take 1 damage. "Oh, they just–" He was immediately interrupted by taking 1 damage.

Readying the cards again, he invoked their power again and took 1 damage, but then was invincible long enough to lunge at his copy and wrestle a single Valmanway away.

"Ha! Now I have a–" Soma was hit for 1 damage. "Val too!" He quickly countered with his own 1 damage slash, which knocked his target away. His target was undeterred, however, and immediately ran up and continued blending with its remaining Val, knocking Soma away and dealing 1 damage.

Unfortunately, Soma and his evil clone couldn't kill each other, as with each swing of their Valmanways, they recovered 2HP, but only dealt 1 damage.

The problem, however, quickly resolved itself when Alucard suddenly dropped out of the ceiling and onto the floor.

"Hey Arikado," Soma started, taking 1 damage. "You're finally here." He dealt 1 damage to his foe. "Help me with this guy," Soma continued, taking 1 damage. "He's invincible!"

Alucard just stared at the scene in silence for a moment. After all, it wasn't as though the doppelgänger was "invincible" because of Soma's poor choice of equipment or anything. Offering nothing, Alucard turned to the wall and prepared to glitch out of the room.

"Hey, you can't just–" Soma took 1 damage, and Alucard didn't stay to see the rest of what the teen planned to say.

* * *

Alucard scanned the new area quickly, though the action was quite pointless; the entire place seemed to be a featureless black plane. Makoto was on one knee clutching his shoulder while a suited figure Alucard didn't recognize stood over him.

Blonde hair, and by the scent of her blood, a woman; she turned to look at him, readying a blade in surprise. It seemed, at least from her stance, that she wasn't in combat with Makoto. "Another one of these stupid illusions? Guess they don't know when to give up," she said, sounding annoyed as she approached Alucard.

Hoping he could avoid wasting time fighting someone who didn't seem to be his enemy, she shook his head. "I am not an illusion."

"Sure ya aren't." The woman said, moving in quickly for a strike on him. Reacting quickly, Alucard summoned his favored sword and parried the strike and knocked the woman's blade from her hand, leaving it skidding across the invisible black ground. Pausing for a moment, Alucard calmly sheathed his blade before repeating his earlier words. "As I said, I am not an illusion."

Leaving the woman to recover her weapon, Alucard walked over to Makoto, producing a bottle from his cloak; this was his last potion but the incubus didn't look like he was in very good shape. "Drink," the dhampir commanded, holding the bottle out to Makoto. Makoto was hesitant for a moment before he accepted the medicine and downed it in one swallow.

Turning away again, Alucard strode further into the inky darkness, trying to find another location he could escape from. It wasn't long before he found what may as well have been an invisible wall; suitable enough for his purposes. He turned back to the others and called them over.

"How did you get here, anyway?" Makoto asked.

"That's not relevant," Alucard replied curtly. "One I transform, punch me." Tapping into his vampire half, his figure wavered for a moment before reforming into a large bat.

"What?" Makoto blinked twice in surprise. He glanced at the woman, who said nothing but shared his confused look.

The bat squeaked, then morphed back into Alucard for a moment. "We don't have time; just do as I say."

"Why...?" Makoto said quietly to himself.

The incubus paused for a moment before drawing his arm back and swinging at Alucard, striking the bat in the center. As the incubus's fist hit, the bat suddenly was Alucard again, crouching in the corner as before. Nothing had happened.

"That's not hard enough. Strike me like you would an enemy." Alucard said before returning to his bat form.

"What?" Makoto repeated again, looking even more confused.

Pulling his arm back again, Makoto swung it towards Alucard, the dhampir able to sense true energy behind it this time. As before, the dhampir reformed back into his normal self, but then he seemed to vanish into the ground.

Makoto looked around in surprise, Makoto didn't see Alucard anywhere. "Alucard!? What the hell happened!?"

"Now I am going to cast a spell. While it is active, you both must jump over where I was before." Alucard replied from beneath the 'ground'.

"What could that possibly...?" Makoto looked around more carefully, still seeing nothing.

"Just do as I say!" Alucard commanded. The dhampir pushed his way through the darkness until he reached the point he was seeking, then reached for his Heart Refresh. "Now!"

Sensing the other two's energies moving, Alucard pushed further forward in time with them, feeling the sudden twist as the energies took hold of him.

* * *

Alucard fell to his knees as he impacted solidly on the grass-covered ground. The scenery was vaguely familiar; the full moon shone brightly in the night sky while trees dotted the field he seemed to be in. _(Seijō Park...)_ he thought to himself, quickly realizing why the location was familiar.

He closed his eyes and opened his senses, almost immediately noticing a source he recognized. The swirl of mana but the lack of demonic energy meant it could only be Soryuu; the other human girl Suzu hadn't struck him as the mage type.

The dhampir bounded forward across the grass, his feet barely grazing the grass with each step. In moments, he had found his target but couldn't approach due to some strange invisible barrier. In the distance, he made out Soryuu kneeling on the ground, cradling a girl Alucard didn't recognize in his arms. A short distance to the side stood a figure shrouded in a nearly pitch black aura.

"Keiko...! Please...!" Alucard could barely make out Soryuu's grief-ridden cries.

Alucard scanned the area to look for any obvious method to circumvent the barrier, but unsurprisingly found nothing. _(Perhaps Alexei has adapted his technique to handle my intrusion on the others' locations...)_ However, the situation before him was slightly more worrisome than the others. He and Soma had merely faced doppelgängers, but what was facing Soryuu was clearly much more personal.

The future reports from this incident had detailed that the cult had been active in Seijō for some time before now, so perhaps Alexei had additional information on Soryuu's life that he was exploiting. If that theory was correct, he would be able to expect something similar with regard to Suzu. Sougen could only have been deployed in Seijō but days before, so it was unlikely anything could be prepared for him.

Alucard strafed around the clearing, searching for a point where the invisible force felt thinner. He let his hand drift carefully along its edge, watching as pale blue ripples follow its motion.

On the other hand, Makoto's illusion had involved another person the dhampir did not recognize at all save for the fact that she was certainly not an illusion. If her involvement was intentional, then Alucard could only wonder what Alexei had planned and whether she had or would have any relation to Makoto.

When Alucard reached was seemed to be a corner in the barrier system he felt what he had been hoping for. It seemed that the construction was not as advanced as it could have been, giving Alucard an opportunity to enact his plan.

He had watched how Soma had employed what he called the Kurusujikūkanshōten'i and Alucard had devised a method he believed would be able to at least partially imitate the effects. He reached within himself and summoned forth his vampiric bloodlust. Reaching for his sword, he channeled his flaring energy into it dash forward. There was a sudden burst of magical energy and Alucard felt a sharp pull before all the power faded suddenly, leaving him on the other side of the barrier. He took a moment to steady himself before turning and moving quickly towards Soryuu was.

The shadow seemed completely oblivious to his approach, and a single slash from Alucard's weapon caused into a dissipate into a black fog that quickly faded. The dhampir scanned the area, suspecting the creature had just disappeared, but neither saw nor sensed anything.

"Soryuu," Alucard said carefully as he approached.

There was no response, and Alucard narrowed his eyes. He had always kept his interactions with others short and to the point, a tactic which had served him well over the past 400-some years. Perhaps that ideology made him shallow or cold to some, but he knew why he fought and that was enough. He was not without empathy, but it did leave him poorly off in situations like this, where his words needed to be inspirational or uplifting.

"You're real, Arikado...?" Soryuu suddenly asked, but didn't look up.

"Yes," Alucard replied evenly. "What you saw here was just an illusion created by Alexei." Though the dhampir had not actually seen what had happened, he could make an educated guess; and he knew as well as anyone the feeling of losing someone close to you. He did not know whether they were family, lovers, or simply close friends, but the nature of the bond was irrelevant.

"I know..."Soryuu agreed quietly. "I know, but damn it...!" His voice barely went above a whisper, yet he sounded as though he was trying to shout.

Alucard could understand the hunter's feelings. Indeed, the pain of an illusion like this, where one lives through the death of a loved one, was one the dhampir could recall all too easily. But stepping into the world of the supernatural and choosing to fight required a certain determination. "Every life is interconnected; what defines them is not how they begin and end, but the connections themselves. Loss inevitably brings pain, but you can endure so long as you realize it can truly take nothing from you."

Soryuu was silent for a moment before he gently set the girl down and stood up. "That's pretty good." He smiled weakly but genuinely as he blinked the tears from his eyes. "...You act so focused and cold, but... Thanks."

Alucard turned to look into the distance and simply nodded. _(The next target should be Jingūji,)_ he thought to himself. Remembering his earlier hypothesis, he suspected it would be very useful to have Soryuu with him. He was closer to Suzu than the dhampir, after all.

"So how are we going to...?" Soryuu began, scanning the area.

"This way," Alucard said as he began heading towards one of the larger trees that looked suitable for his purpose. The dhampir leapt towards the trunk and kicked off, launching himself higher to a thick branch jutting out almost horizontally.

Soryuu gave him a strange look as he also made his way to the tree and gripped the irregular surface, using what he could as foot and handholds to climb to Alucard's position.

"Kick off the trunk towards the end of the branch," Alucard requested. "When you reach the edge, jump straight up."

Soryuu blinked at him incredulously. "Excuse me...?" There was only a moment of pause before the hunter gave up. "Right..." he replied with a slight sigh. "You're serious, of course..."

Soryuu did as Alucard had described, but nothing of note happened.

"Land closer to the edge," Alucard advised.

The next time, Soryuu ended up nearly falling off, but managed to save himself by spinning and grabbing the tree branch mid-air. Stepped to the edge, Alucard helped Soryuu back up onto the branch before stepping back again to give the hunter space.

Soryuu repeated the technique again, but landed awkwardly on his left foot, losing his balance and falling forwards. Throwing one of his hands out to break his fall, he turned the move into a sloppy forward roll to try to avoid falling flat on his face. The maneuver brought him right to the edge; or rather, a bit too far as the hunter suddenly felt himself lose his balance again. Stumbling wildly, he managed to gain a bit of purchase with one of his feet, but was only successful in launching himself further from the makeshift platform.

Just after he jumped, Soryuu began flying backwards as though pulled by an invisible force; narrowly missing the trunk of the tree, he continuing sailing backwards and away until he suddenly stopped midair above the field. This was only for a moment before he was suddenly flung skywards, up into the air where he finally disappeared just as suddenly.

Alucard copied the maneuver, including the physics-defying parts of it, flying upwards until he reached the height of the dimension and everything went pitch black.

* * *

When Alucard became of where he was standing again, he wondered if the technique had not worked properly; the new location was nearly the same in appearance to the one he had just left. But he sensed both Soryuu's presence beside him and another ahead, so he suspected that the appearance was merely coincidental.

"It's Suzu!" Soryuu said, starting forward.

Alucard kept pace, his sword at the ready as a trio of figures came into view. He took stock of the situation quickly; Suzu was standing with her back to their approach, her weapon on the ground a short distance away. A doppelgänger of Suzu stood opposite her, it's flaring black aura making that much clear. Alucard's eyes narrowed as he sighted a third crumpled motionlessly on the ground. _(The same tactic again...?)_ he wondered as he went straight for the doppelgänger.

The creature only began to note him as he stepped past Suzu, barely raising its silver blade in an attempt to parry. The attempt was sloppy and slow, however, and Alucard had no trouble deflecting the defense and dispatching the monster in three strokes.

"Is she all right?" he asked, turning to the girl and Soryuu, who was at her side.

"Are you?" Soryuu repeated as he looked at her.

Suzu managed to shake her head before almost falling to her knees, saved only by Soryuu managing to catch her. It was a few silent seconds before she started to cry. "His...fate...!?"

"H-Hey..." Soryuu said shakily as he felt his face heat up. "It's... It's all right..."

Alucard made a small gesture of apology at the hunter as he turned away again and to the other collapsed figure. Soryuu would probably be better able to handle the situation than the dhampir could.

"Another phantom..." Alucard said quietly as he knelt down, but was surprised to find he actually recognized them. The blonde hair and white outfit were those of Reo Jingūji, Suzu's older brother, but particularly it was him from at least 10 years ago. Reo had assisted Alucard and Julius during the Battle of 1999, but owing to complications from Castlevania's sealing process Julius had been stricken with amnesia and Reo had been put into a coma. He turned to Soryuu, who was still holding Suzu closely, and mouthed the word "siblings" to the hunter, who seemed to understand.

"J-Just remember this was just an illusion created by Alexei..." Soryuu began, though his voice was unsteady. He paused for a moment before taking a breath to steady himself. He cast a sideways glance at Alucard before continuing. "Talking of fate as though it were some kind of magical guiding force that pushes us towards our 'destinies' is meaningless. What we call fate is just the sum of everyone else's actions, so to say that fate does any more than influence us is folly. But that isn't to say the logic and reason are all that move people. More so than anything else, what affects us is other people; other souls; other minds. A single action can shake the hearts of others more than a thousand words. Whenever you think time or fate has taken anyone from you, remember that though that which lives must eventually die, what defines life is not death, but bonds."

Alucard stood as he listened to the hunter finished. The speech was rather grand, but good nonetheless. Though it may not have addressed exactly the problem at hand, inspiration often came from sources outside the situation itself. Indeed, perhaps for both Soryuu and Suzu the inspiration they had found was that they didn't need to spend time in sadness over death – something which had not been mentioned at all.

Suzu looked up at Soryuu for a moment, looking calmer before her face suddenly grew very red and she stumbled away. "I-I..." she started, her voice barely audible. "Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it," Soryuu managed to reply as he smiling nervously.

"Over here," Alucard called, probably saving the pair from further embarrassment, and he indicated a pair of gates the lead out of the park and into Seijō's business district.

"What's here?" Soryuu asked, glancing around.

Alucard produced a Heart Refresh in preparation for another glitch and was about to speak when the others reacted.

"Hey...that's..." Soryuu started in disbelief.

"...Valentine's Day candy...?" Suzu finished.

Alucard blinked at them in confusion.

"...Well, it looks like the Heart Refresh brand's signature chocolate box, is all..." Soryuu added awkwardly.

The dhampir's gaze left the pair as he crushed the item in his hand, simultaneously sliding backwards a considerable distance.

It was the hunters' turn to blink at Alucard.

"What did you do?" Suzu asked.

"At the gate there is..." Alucard began, before deciding on a different and simpler method of explanation. "Consider the ground outside the park to be ephemeral." He looked at the two hunters. "Fall through, and we can escape this illusion."

"All right," Soryuu said, starting forward.

"Wait, what?" Suzu spoke up. "How did you even...?"

"It's probably better just to go ahead with it..." Soryuu said, recalling the previous 'technique' Alucard guided him in before. He walked to where to the park's edge then closed his eyes and leapt over. True to Alucard's words, he fell straight through the floor and vanished.

"I don't..." Suzu stared at the location incredulously. She sighed, resigning herself to just take Soryuu's words to heart. "This had better work," she said before following Soryuu's lead into the void.

Alucard moved near to the edge and turned around, backdashing to the same point before suddenly falling into the ground and disappearing.

* * *

Alucard felt himself land on a stone platform, lit by the full moon.

Not far from his location he saw two things of immediate interest; Sougen fighting what appeared to be an illusory version his werewolf form, though it still sported the full aura of the real thing, and a small masked imp hovered a short distance away as it looked on.

He sensed the connection between the magics as he readied his weapon and then understood at least part of what was going on.

From what he knew of Sougen's bloodline, the transformation was a kind of curse rather than a simple alternate form like a natural therianthrope. Among creatures of the night such a curse was not extraordinarily uncommon, though unlike a natural werewolf it meant the powers were more strictly separated when it came to actual combat.

He had heard only rumors about cures or at least methods of handling the curse, but they all involved something to this effect; with powerful enough magic, the werewolf side could be pulled from the host and stored into something similar to a necromancer's soul gem. Though the cursed was no longer a normal human, so this did not simply create a normal human and a permanently-transformed werewolf. Rather, it pulled part of itself from the host and formed a sort of shadow, while the host was left much weaker for it.

Here, however, the source of the magic was obvious. Alucard dashed for the imp, delivering a solid blow before the creature could even react to his approach. The creatures mask clattered to the floor and its body disintegrated into flames.

"Arikado!? Where did you–" Sougen started, but his werewolf form simply rushed forward to attack.

At the last moment Alucard faded to mist, evading the charge before reforming and turning around. The werewolf charged again, and this time Alucard stepped forward and to the side, delivering a single fatal counterstrike that went straight through its entire undefended flank. The beast doubled over in pain and faded until all that remained was a purple gemstone which hit the floor with a loud and hollow clink.

"Um...what was all that?" Sougen stood up, looking very confused.

"An imp with a relic far beyond it's ability to use. Ancient magic, but not quite forgotten," Alucard replied.

"And the werewolf thing?"

Alucard was a bit surprised that Sougen didn't know, but he didn't let it show. However he would need to have the details explained later, when it was more appropriate. ...Something else to relay to his current self somehow. "Despite its power, all imps know are tricks and manipulation. I presume it meant to turn your strength against you. Had it succeeded, it would have destroyed itself in the end." He paused. "I have done what I can, but I recommend collecting that artifact."

Sougen did as asked. "You're kidding me. Is this permanent?"

"...It will require further attention," Alucard said simply, heading towards the platform's edge. "This way."

* * *

"Arikado!" Soma shouted in complaint as he took 1 damage. "Took you long enough."

Alucard said nothing, as he drew his blood red Muramasa katana from its sheath. His initial attack knocked the doppelgänger backwards; Soma tried to follow up with his single Valmanway, but the creature's own attack hit first, causing 1 damage. "Stay back, Soma!"

"What? Why?" Soma replied in annoyance as Alucard moved in again, his Yasutsuna katana flashing from its sheath to deflect the doppelgänger's blows and the Muramasa delivering counterattacks. The combination eventually proved too much for the creatures attack-move strategy as one of Alucard's counter's finally proved fatal.

Soma immediately rushed to the corpse as it faded, grabbing the other Valmanway. "Finally, I have real weapons again." He turned to see Alucard beckoning him to a far wall.

"What, do you know a way to glitch out of here?" Soma ask curiously as he looked at the wall.

* * *

Soryuu suddenly hit the ground hard, barely managing to turn the crash into a roll. Grimacing for a moment as the pain in his knees slowly faded, the hunter got to his feet. Suzu landed more gracefully behind him, and he heard her draw her blade from its sheath. Soryuu followed suit as he watched Sougen be blasted backwards by some attack from Alexei, noting the blue glowing swords flying back to the cultist.

"Some kind of telekensis...?" Soryuu wondered to himself as he began gathering mana for a spell, Suzu advancing past him to where Makoto was standing.

Alexei summoned a trio of blades to spin tightly in front of him before gesturing downwards; the blades thrusting down into the ground until the marble covered the guards. There was a high-pitched whistle for a moment before a large curved sword thrust out of the ground beneath Soryuu, its blade glowing with a magical red aura. The attack sent him flying into the air and crashing into the ground on his back, the Aura Sword clattering to the floor beside him.

Suzu spun, surprised at the suddenness and range of Alexei's attack. She heard the whistle again, and could only assume that Alexei was planning to use the technique again. She dashed towards Soryuu, hoping that if she moved quickly the attack wouldn't come out fast enough to hit her.

Soryuu sat up slowly, reaching for the Aura Sword as he saw Suzu heading his way. In a sudden flash of understanding, he saw what Alexei's plan was. "Stay back...!" He only hoped that Suzu would do as he asked.

Fortunately for him, she both trusted him and was a quick enough thinker to realize what he had said before it was too late, skidding to a stop. And not a moment too soon; in the short space that separated the two hunters, another of Alexei's large swords burst from the ground.

"Stay on your guard!" a familiar voice echoed from behind Soryuu, but it was directed at Suzu. She paused for a moment before turning again to face Alexei. Soryuu collected the Aura Sword and turned to see Alucard standing beside him. "Are you all right?"

"I'll live..." Soryuu replied, but when he took a moment to consider the quantity and severity of wounds he'd received over the course of his stay here in Castlevania, he almost doubted it.

As that happened, Soma rushed past everyone and towards Alexei, wielding his dual Valmanways. "All right, buddy!" He cut wildly at the air as he approached, unable to stop mashing the buttons at all times.

Alexei sneered at the white-cloaked teen as he recalled a group of his blades and had them spin quickly in front of him, forming a kind of a shield. Unable to advance any closer, Soma stopped before the shield continuing to attack even as it had no effect.

"Not like I haven't seen a trick like this before," Soma commented with a confident smile.

"Soma!" Alucard called out as he approached closer to Alexei. "Behind you!"

"Huh?" Soma turned to look too late to see another of Alexei's blades barreling towards his chest. The impact knocked him backwards into Alexei's shield, which knocked the teen forward again. At that point the spinning blades abruptly halted, pointing at Soma. They flew one at a time into him, putting holes in his coat but strangely not reddening it with blood. "How are you supposed to survive that..." he mumbled as he collapsed to the ground.

Alucard stepped in quickly and grabbed Soma, roughly dragging him away from Alexei's follow-up slashes. "Either dodge, or take off that Ancient Armor," was all the dhampir said.

"Soaring Swallow!" Soryuu shouted from behind them as he finished his incantation, firing a blade of wind in Alexei's direction. The blast scattered a few of the cultist's puppet swords, but the man himself managed to throw up some kind of magical barrier to deflect the blast.

Suzu saw this as an opportunity to move in, gripping the hilt of her own blade as she moved forward. Alexei, however, summoned one of his remaining swords to spiral forward, forcing Suzu to dodge the attack.

Alucard advanced as well, but Alexei used his remaining swords to engage the dhampir, forcing him to stopping and parry the flurry of attacks.

The dhampir noticed Sougen approaching from the cultist's back, but as he came in range Alexei pulled his swords from their engagements with Alucard and Suzu and swung them around with a grand sweep of his arm, forcing the werewolf to dodge backwards to avoid being cut to thin slices.

As the swords retreated to Alexei's sides and began twirling around him, Makoto suddenly dashed past, saying only "Distract him." Alucard didn't know what kind of plan the incubus had, but unless they did something to handle either his magic or defenses they were not going to get close enough to deal any damage. Following behind, Alucard began another charge, causing Alexei send another pair of swords slashing at him in quick succession.

Makoto flew high into the air, drawing Alexei's attention before shooting to the ground and rocketing directly towards him.

_(What is he planning? If he tries to attack...)_ Before Alucard could finish the thought, however, Alexei did as Alucard was about to predict. A trio of swords flew up into position over the cultist for a moment, hovering like a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher before firing forward with all the speed of the real thing.

Just as the weapons were about to make contact, the incubus's form wavered and he spiraled out of harms way with a shout of "Now!"

Behind him and directly in the path of the weapons stood Soryuu, a seal card in his free hand. There was a flash of light and a surge of mana before the hunter threw them straight at the bladed missile. The collision, however, was far less spectacular; the moment the paper hit the metal, it seemed to grow a mind of its own, lashing out and wrapping itself around the middle of the blades. The moment it did, all magic and momentum seemed to fall out of the weapons and they fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Now's our chance...!" Suzu shouted, as she readied her sword and moved forward.

Alexei looked on thoughtful but not surprised, instead summoning mana for some spell of his own. With three of his swords down, however, there was a considerable hole in his defense.

Soryuu brandished his own sword as he followed after Suzu, Sougen attacking again from the far side and Makoto hovering a short distance back to wait for a follow-up opening. Alucard watched the others advance and sheathed his sword, drawing his cape around him as he gathered some of the dark power emanating from the room.

A sword flew towards Suzu as she neared the cultist, but she twisted sideways and parried the magical weapon, knocking it around her path. Unfortunately the parry wasn't perfect, and the weapon shot off at a strange angle towards Soryuu.

"Look out!" she called, and he dodged sideways, causing the blade to leave only another cut in his already rather damaged cloak. Immediately after, however, another of Alexei's blade arced across his field of vision; a last-second twist saved him from much of the damage, but the weapon still bit into his side, drawing blood and a pained cry from the hunter.

Sougen, however, had made use of this time to approach from behind. Alexei spun but was barely too late to avoid seeing the werewolf's punch to his stomach. He staggered backwards but recovered enough to summon energy to block the follow-up swing. Sougen scowled at the defense but for his mage-like appearance Alexei seemed rather strong.

The cultist quickly brought up his other hand and fired a point-blank blast of energy at Sougen, though the werewolf had the presence of mind to throw up his hands to block what he could. The blast sent him skidding back, but it was not far enough to deter another attack. He moved forward again, but before he could strike the cultist threw his hand to the floor with the words, "Black Quake."

A series of bright lines drew themselves outward from Alexei's hand, spiraling outwards wildly like cracks before exploding with jet black beams of light that extended to the ceiling. The range and suddenness of the attack was incredible, engulfed nearly the entire room and easily hit all of the fighters.

The attack cut like a searing knives across his flesh throwing Soryuu into the air seemingly countless times before he crashed to the ground, landing hard on his back.

Alexei chuckled as his spell completed, but his elation lasted only a moment before a column of light descended before him to reveal an unharmed Alucard. "Dark Inferno!" The dhampir's twin blasts of energy sent the cultist flying backward and skidding to a stop near the far end of the room. He struggled to his feet, but Alucard was upon him again in an instant his blade cutting in two smooth cleaves that left the cultist on his knees for a moment before he collapsed, followed shortly by his remaining animated weapons.

"Bastard..." he managed to mutter, pausing between each word to catch his breath, "Was all you told me a lie?"

Alucard wondered to whom the cultist was talking before another voice made it clear.

"Don't you remember what I told you? 'Nothing created by man can ever truly be perfect.'"

Alucard spun towards the source, seeing a figure step calmly out of the shadows. He was a man of average height, brown eyed with gray shoulder-length hair. But his hair wasn't the strangest thing about him. His outfit was similarly unique; he wore a black cloak stylized with green green streaks that were made up of overlapping numbers. Underneath that he wore a generic business shirt with slacks, contrasting sharply with the pair of geta that he was wearing.

"But with every path that closes, another opens."

"Who are you...?" Alucard heard Makoto speak from behind him, and saw the others had managed to get to their feet, though they were all quite battered.

Soma, too, it seemed as the teen immediately spoke up before anyone else could say any more. "Ugh. How many of these guys do I have to kill?"

Drawing both of his weapons again, he began slicing the air in front of him.

"Soma!" Alucard called out, but Soma didn't stop.

"Come on!" Soma he said insistently. "Look at him! He's obviously a bad guy!"

With that, Soma resumed blending, rushing towards the man too quickly for Alucard to stop him.

"Tetrakarn," the man said nonchalantly.

As Soma's blades of wind connected with the mysterious man, Soma suddenly jumped back, dropping his weapons and clutching his hand in pain. "Ow! What the hell was-"

The man simply smiled, showing no reaction.

"Rgh...this'll get you for sure!" Soma yelled in frustration, pulling out his Golden Axe and holding it over his head.

"Soma!" Alucard repeated, already guessing how the trick worked. "It won't work!"

Completely ignoring Alucard's advice, Soma brought his axe down hard. Right as the axe impacted the cloaked man, Soma collapsed onto the ground, cracking the marble floor, almost as if he was hit by a very heavy golden axe.

The man looked over at Alucard. "It's a good thing for me he ignored your advice. But not at all unexpected."

"Who are you?" Alucard repeated the earlier question, his blade ready in case the man decided to attack.

"It means little. But you can call me Naoya." The so-called Naoya reached down and grabbed Soma by the back of his coat. "If you wish to survive, you should leave now. Traesto." With those words, a magical glow enveloped the pair and they disappeared.

As the glow faded, the castle began to shake. "What the hell is going on now?" Makoto asked to no one in particular.

Alucard glanced over at Alexei's now-still body before responding, "The link has been broken. The castle is starting to crumble."

As if Alucard's word were a signal, the ceiling started to crack, and plumes of dust fell from the ceiling.

"We need to get out of here," stated Alucard, though he knew the statement was rather obvious. Makoto glanced over at the elevator that had brought them up. Or rather, the floor that was now there.

"I...don't think we can leave that way..." Makoto said. "Wait, can't we try using that...technique you used to get me out of that illusory area before?"

Alucard looked at Makoto and shook his head. "Not here, and not for all of us." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Does anyone have a library card?"

"A library card...?" Soryuu asked, his eyebrows going up in confusion.

"Yeah...but why?" asked Makoto, reaching into his pocket and producing his school ID.

Alucard took the ID card and held it up. He placed his left hand over it and the card glowed softly before fading back to normal. "Everyone, stand close."

There was a pause as everyone gave the dhampir confused looks before complying with his request. Once everyone was in place, Alucard brought his cape in front of him, holding the card in his hand. As he did so, the card glowed brightly, and an ominous white light engulfed the party.

The teleportation left them, as Alucard had expected, surrounded by bookshelves that towered to the ceiling above. Each row extended far into the distance with only the occasional archway dipping down to add architectural flair.

Before Alucard could speak up, Sougen stepped forward and looked around. The castle rumbled and a few books tumbled from the shelves, but otherwise the room stayed intact.

"I think I remember how to get through here," the werewolf said, apparently having been here before. Alucard nodded as everyone began to follow behind Sougen as he led them down and around several corners. "Though I'll have to wing it a bit to get all the way back to the gate." He looked behind him with a smirk. "Unless any of you want to make a last-minute check-out before we leave?"

Soryuu apparently found fit to respond. "Well, I'd love to but I don't think we'd have time to find the librarian...and a vampire hunter wouldn't stoop to petty thievery, even if the items were just lying around unguarded."

Suzu sighed audibly. "Do you really think this is the time to be joking around?"

Alucard agreed with the sentiment, but didn't voice it. Even as Sougen led them on, the bookcases seemed to repeat endlessly; they came to a halt when Suzu noted books sliding themselves out of their positions on the shelves.

"Enchanted spellbooks!" she called out, drawing her sword, but Alucard was already ready and moving.

"There's more of them from above and behind!" the dhampir heard Soryuu warn from behind.

"Cut the ones that matter, and run," Alucard ordered as he diced one of the books into pieces of ancient leather and shreds of paper. Around the corner just ahead a skeleton fencer advanced into view, carrying its head in one arm and a rapier in the other. Parrying the thrust as he advanced, Alucard lunged forward and delivered a powerful strike to the creatures center of mass, blasting it to pieces and leaving the skull clattering to the ground.

He turned to see others finishing off the other monsters in the way but narrowed his eyes as another skeletal swordsman held up its rapier and absorbed a lightning spell Soryuu attempted to send its way. With a quick gesture, Alucard sent a trio of fireballs to the monster, destroying it before it could make use of its newfound power.

He caught the other's eyes and gestured them forward. "We don't have any more time. Quickly!"

Dashing between the rows of bookshelves, the group ran down some stairs, only to be confronted by a massive pile of skeletal dragon heads. The door was visible behind them, but it was almost completely covered by the pile battery.

"Really...?" Makoto wondered out loud. Several of the dragon heads opened their mouths to launch fireballs towards the group, but the haphazard piling of the heads meant the fireballs were launched basically randomly. The incubus tried an attack, but the bone seemed undamaged by his clawed assault.

The castle rocked almost as if in response to the attack and the skulls shifted slightly but remained piled atop each other. Once things had settled, Sougen dashed down the steps, his fists glowing with a fiery power as he plowed into the center of the pile. The impact seemed to detonate the power as an explosion of fire that scattered the skulls around the werewolf. They flew apart, bouncing off walls and clattering against each other as they rolled further down the steps, their cohesion broken. For all its flare, however, the technique didn't seem to make any obvious dent in their numbers.

"What the... What is that supposed to be...?" Soryuu could only wonder as he watched the others attack.

"This is stupid..." Suzu growled in annoyance. "We need some way to clear them out of the way." She thought for a moment. "A Dual Crush, then?"

Alucard nodded and voiced his agreement.

"I'll leave it to you then," Soryuu said as he backed up. Alucard noted the hunter's injuries and understood his request.

Suzu looked at Soryuu with concern, doubtless noticing the same thing. "Are you all right?"

Soryuu nodded. "It's not my sword arm, so I'll be fine until we're out of here."

"Jingūji," Alucard called out to the other hunter, whose gaze lingered on Soryuu for a moment before she turned to the dhampir and nodded.

A purple sigil flashed to life beneath the casters' feet as they began to charge their magical energies to attack the collapsed bone pillar. Wind began to bellow from them as the pairs' energies slowly synchronized, forming a grander magic.

"Icy snowstorm, be realized as a freezing wind..." Suzu began, a large ice crystal growing up behind her.

"Tempered by the dark inferno of hell..." Alucard continued as the crystal seemed to solidify in place before small cracks shot across its faces.

"Cocytus!" On that command, the crystal slowly began to shatter, each piece forming a large spear of ice that shot forward into the pile battery. The icicles were powerful enough that each would simply crush several of the skulls to pieces before dissipating, and their number was great enough that when the crystal was finally depleted, there was a clear pathway leading to the door.

Suzu staggered from the exertion as the spell ended, but Alucard caught her by the arm.

"I'm fine," she managed after a moment, looking towards the door. "We need to move."

The others led the group as they pushed through the door, finding it lead into another hallway that stretched forward a ways before a sharp right.

The castle shook again as the cracks in the walls widened, bits and pieces of the ceiling falling down. As the party ran down the hall and turned the corner, several common bats flew towards them, screeching.

Alucard skidded to a stop, letting the others run ahead as he took out a few of the bats. As the others reached the door, Alucard summoned a surge of energy to cast one of his more powerful spells. "Soul Steal!"

* * *

"This is the courtyard near the entrance," Makoto said, turning to the others. "If we jump down here we should be able to get out."

Sougen turned to face the hunters, suspecting the hunters wouldn't have a way to get across. "Big hole. Need a lift?"

Suzu looked out over the chasm, frowning slightly. Her eyes darted around the area, assessing the remaining structures. "I don't need you. I can probably-"

She was interrupted by another tremor, the strongest yet. In the distance, towers and walkways were starting to crumble and collapse.

She exhaled in visible frustration. "Fine, hurry up." She scanned right over Sougen and turned to Makoto, then walked to the railing.

Makoto looked at her in surprise, but recovered quickly enough. "All right, grab on," he responded. She put her arm around his neck and stepped onto the railing. He spread his wings and kicked off, sweeping her up like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold, and sailed quickly over the gap.

Sougen turned back to the balcony. Just him and the shrine brat. They looked at each other briefly.

"That's not going to happen."

"Agreed, for once," Soryuu replied.

Sougen took a knee and held his hands out, fingers locked together. The shrine brat took the signal and put one foot into Sougen's hands. With a grunt, Sougen gathered his energy and flung as hard as he could fling, launching the brat out over the hole. He landed safely clear of the edge, straightening his thoroughly-tattered cape, not looking back.

At that point Alucard dashed from the hallway, trailed by a small cloud of blue lights. He scanned the group and gave Sougen a nod before launching himself out over the pit. Half way over, he tapped into the power of his Leap Stone and his were as wings, flapping once and giving him the jump height to cross the gap.

Sougen followed suit, he stepping onto the railing and gathering his power. As he kicked off, however, there was a flash of light and his jump was far shorter than it needed to be.

Alucard looked to the others for a moment. "Keep moving; I'll handle this."

Soryuu looked at the dhampir hesitantly before nodding in acquiescence. He wasn't exactly keen on jumping down multiple stories again, even if this third time would be intentional. He was, in fact, a bit surprised he hadn't somehow managed to fall in himself, given what Haruna had joked to him about the Igaguri-style and its users' capacity for falling into pits.

He turned back to the pit as the stone doors shut behind him but was surprised to see the werewolf being carried from the pit by a succubus. He gave her a critical look, but Sougen seemed trusting of her. He nodded once curtly before turning to follow the path the rest of the group had taken.

The hallway had only one path and it was rather clear, probably thanks to the rest of the group having passed through ahead of them. They passed through an atrium of sorts before reaching another hallway where the floor was crumbling to pieces and covered with glass from the windows whose frames were twisted and crushed under the castle's weight. Alucard slid to a stop as he opened the far door, opening it and sighting the castle gates. "He is safe," he said quickly to the others, who seemed to have been waiting.

The succubus flew out the open doorway followed quickly by Sougen before Alucard stepped after them, letting it slam shut behind him. They were in another small courtyard, bordered on one side by a massive wall and a commensurate gate, still open. In the middle floated a glowing red glyph, shining expectantly at them.

Alucard nodded. "Let us leave. When this castle returns to Chaos, any trapped inside will not remain."

Soryuu and Suzu stepped forward first; after a moment of hesitation, the pair stepped into it, disappearing in a red-white glow. Makoto followed more quickly.

Alucard looked back to Sougen and the succubus.

Sougen brushed past her, eyes fixed forward. "I thought you wanted to live?" His question was asked curtly with no particular emotion.

"And leave with everyone?" she asked.

Sougen hesitated before the portal and glanced backwards. The last of the distant towers were falling, and the hallway through the door was now raining big slabs of rock onto the ground.

Alucard stepped forward past the werewolf and turned his head to the succubus. He had no knowledge of her relation to Sougen, but staying here meant returning to Chaos. He doubting she would have followed them here if she had no concerns for her future. "Whatever your qualms, silence them. It is time," he spoke quickly before stepping through.

The was a blinding flash but when it cleared the dhampir found himself standing in the middle of a forest, dull moonlight shining through the leaves. Through the trees, he could see the black sky starting to turn gray and bright. He stepped away from the glowing altar and watched as Sougen and the succubus stepped out beside him. Almost as if their exit had been all it was waiting for, the purple glow vanished into nothingness.

"Mission complete, then...?" Soryuu wondered quietly.

"Castlevania is gone for now," Alucard responded with the gusto of relating the contents of a sandwich. He nodded to everyone. "You fought well, and I thank you."

"What about that other kid you were with?" Suzu spoke up, referring to Soma.

Alucard's eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately we have no information as to where he is. If his captor passed through Seijō, however, someone may know something."

"Right..." Soryuu agreed. "But before that, I think I might need some medical attention..."

Suzu turned at his words, looking clearly concerned. She stepped close to the other hunter and pushed aside the part of his cloak that was covering his right shoulder, nearly stumbling back in surprise at what she saw. Soryuu's shoulder was dyed a deep red with blood, and had clearly been bleeding for some time considering how far down his arm and side the stains went.

"You...how did...?" Suzu started, but Alucard spoke up.

"I know a place we can find supplies for this," he said. There was a flash, and he replaced his vampire attire with his pitch-black business suit, something much more suitable for walking the streets in. He produced a cell phone from his inside pocket and typed a command in.

A female voice answered, and he replied to the standard greeting before making his request. "Please reserve the café as per operational guidelines," he said simply.

"...I don't know how well walking the streets with a bloodstained shirt would go over," the dhampir heard Soryuu say to Suzu.

"It's not far," Alucard replied as he replaced his cellphone. "Leave your cloak about your shoulders. You may get an odd look, but you'll leave no lasting impression unless you linger."

"Well then we shouldn't stand around here..." Suzu said, glancing at Soryuu's wound again before looking to the dhampir.

Alucard nodded in agreement, and the group departed.

The streets were sparsely populated, likely as most were somewhere where the view of the eclipse had been better.

"So..." Soryuu started, looking nervous. "Where is this place we're heading?"

"Café Alucard," the dhampir replied. "It is a store chain I own that also stocks useful supplies for our purposes."

Soryuu and Suzu almost stopped walking in surprise. They looked at each other for a moment.

"It's regrettable, but you know the nature of our work prevents any sort of advertisement." Alucard looked to the pair. "I can ensure the services are available to you in the future."

"If we're going to be walking around here, I'd rather switch out for some less damaged clothing. I'll meet up with you later," Makoto said to the group, splitting off at the next intersection.

Suzu just sort of nodded, still quite surprised that the coffee shop she'd been to on multiple occasions was actually a front for selling vampire hunting supplies.

"Really...? But..." Soryuu started before seeming to realize something. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone (getting blood on it in the process), he quickly checked it before sighing in relief.

Alucard led the group into the building pushing open the glass doors and nodding at the clerk who greeted them. He noticed as he turned to check on the rest of the group that Sougen and the succubus weren't with them, but decided that what Sougen did was his choice.

"Bienvenue au Café Alucard~!" The brown-haired girl said with a bright smile, not at all put off by the size of the group. "Everything's ready, sir."

Soryuu felt his blood chill to ice. "That voice..."

"Keiko!?" Soryuu and Suzu both said in surprise as they stepped to the front of the group, trying to confirm that the speaker was in fact the girl they knew. Light brown hair tied back, hazel eyes, gratuitous foreign language usage. It seemed to check out.

Alucard's eyes narrowed for a moment as he recalled that name and recognized the face. This was the same girl that had been in Soryuu's illusion.

"Soryuu, Suzu?" Keiko said in question as she turned to stare at the pair.

There was a palpable silence as each slowly understood what the presence of the other signified.

Keiko was the first to speak. "...You're a vampire hunter, and you didn't tell me?"

Soryuu stumbled over his reply once before he got it right. "...You work at a shop that sells to vampire hunters and you didn't tell me?"

There was a shorter silence before Keiko's smile returned. "And here I thought all those nights you were sneaking off with Suzu were something else entirely."

"How did you know about that!?" Suzu responded immediately, blushing fiercely at the implication.

Keiko chuckled, and Soryuu sighed in exasperation, fighting his own blush.

"Of course she knows..." he said resignedly. "She'd hardly be the Sharp-eyed Spymaster if she didn't..."

"Just so, Directing Instructor," was the girl's overly formal reply.

"The what...?" Suzu asked, feeling like she was missing some part of the conversation between the other two.

Alucard interrupted, addressing Soryuu. "...I'd prefer you don't get blood on the carpet," he said as he disappeared further into the store.

"Oh right. Forgot about that..." Whereupon he promptly collapsed forward and onto Keiko, who, naturally not expecting it, also fell backwards and onto the floor.

"H-Hey...!" Keiko complained at the hunter. She tried to push him off by his shoulders, but their...positioning made it difficult to get leverage. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You should've fallen onto Suzu! Think about it!"

At that moment, Suzu moved in to help Soryuu up. "Hey..! Get off of her!" Taking Soryuu's uninjured shoulder, she pulled him up and gave him what support she could. "You were just fine until a second ago... I don't believe you."

Keiko dusted herself off and looked at the pair thoughtfully. "Does this happen often?"

"What do you mean?" Suzu asked, looking at the other girl questioningly.

"You know... Sor getting beat up by random monsters and you having to save him." Keiko was smiling again. "I guess since you didn't know about this place, you had bandage his wounds yourself, huh? Did you take him back to your house, or was it the other way around?"

Suzu felt her face heating up. "J-Just drop it, okay? It's not like we were doing anything so stop implying weird things!" She turned, as much as she was able, to look at Alucard. "Hurry and get the stuff so we can leave!"

Alucard stepped forward, apparently having already retrieved what he was looking for. He held out a glimmering blue potion, smaller than the others but in a more ornate bottle.

"...Thanks..." Soryuu murmured as he accepted the medicine, downing it in a single gulp. He felt his wounds knitting and healing, and though the potion didn't do anything for his simple exhaustion, it nonetheless improved his condition considerably.

"Great," Suzu said as she stepped away and let Soryuu stand on his own. "Let's go." With that, she turned and started heading out of the shop, making her way through the group to do so and nearly running into an arriving Sougen as she did so.

"Hey, you have to introduce me to your friends!" Keiko called out after her, but the female hunter didn't stop.

"I don't know if I'll ever understand why you purposefully antagonize her like that..." Soryuu mumbled as he watched her leave.

Keiko giggled. "Come on. Don't you think she's cute when she's like that?"

"W-Well...that's not relevant, I don't think," was his quick reply.

"Yeah, I guess not when you think she's cute all of the time," Keiko continued without missing a beat.

Soryuu sighed in exasperation, but didn't confirm or deny the statement. "I thought you wanted to be introduced to everyone?" He turned back. "This is Keiko Ishida, a friend of mine."

He turned back to see Keiko giving him a flat look.

"What?" he replied.

"I thought we had a plan for this," Keiko said expectantly.

Soryuu almost rolled his eyes. "I thought it was tacitly understood that that wasn't going to happen in front of other people."

"You're no fun," she said, frowning at him.

"I don't know about that. I think I'm rather generous, actually..."

"...What happened to Suzu?" Makoto spoke up and Soryuu noticed he had just entered as well.

"It's probably better if–" he started to respond, but Keiko cut him off.

"She's just really touchy about certain things." She smirked suggestively and put odd emphasis on the last word. "So, Sor, you going to tell me everyone's names or do I have to ask myself?"

"Fine, fine..." He re-gave out Keiko's name for Makoto's benefit, then gestured to everyone around the room in turn, having them give her each of their names in return.

"Makoto, pleased to meet you."

"Arikado." Alucard made sure to introduce himself as Arikado, as he couldn't very well introduce himself as Alucard in a shop named Café Alucard, after all.

"My name's Sougen," Sougen said once it was his turn. "And I've been through seven kinds of hell. So if you'll excuse me." He hopped up and slid across the counter.

The waitress looked startled, then sort of angry as she started after him. "Hey, you can't just–"

"I outrank you," he said with a cool demeanor and slight hair flip. He tossed his ID down the counter, then turned around, grabbed a cup, and poured some coffee.

Alucard would have rolled his eyes had he been so inclined, though what Sougen said was technically true.

Keiko looked away from Sougen in annoyance, turning to the others and nodding. "How long have you been working together?"

Soryuu blinked. "Since...last night, actually. Usually it's just Suzu and me."

Keiko hummed a little in thought. "I see." She gestured everyone to follow her further into the shop where the tables and chairs were. "So why don't you tell me what happened? You know, your adventures thus far."

"It's kind of a long story..." Soryuu said. "And probably not really appropriate right now since we still have a mission of sorts to complete."

Keiko, who had been preparing some kind of drink, stopped at his words. "Oh, is that so? I want to come, then."

"But, it's dangerous," Soryuu responded, though he couldn't really be surprised at her request.

"Well, naturally," was all she said.

Soryuu tried to find a way to advance his argument, but it seemed that Keiko would have none of it.

Alucard, with the scene from Castlevania still on his mind, stepped in. "You are still on shift."

"Sure, but–" she started to argue.

"Leaving early is grounds for termination."

That apparently worked. "...Fine then." She gave Soryuu a glare, though it wasn't particularly harsh. "I can't believe you're doing this to me, though. Childhood friends are supposed to stand up for each other!"

"You can't just pick archetypical characteristics out like that, you know..." Soryuu protested, knowing full well that it was pointless.

Alucard looked to the hunter, ignoring the rest of the conversation. "You'd best not wear your hunter's attire out on the streets."

"Ah, you're right." Soryuu closed his eyes for a moment, and after a flash of light he was wearing his casual clothes.

Keiko's eyes widened at the display. "Teach me how to do that!"

"Uh...maybe some other time," Soryuu said as he backed up a bit and stepped quickly outside. "I'll see you later, bye!"

Sougen quickly downed the rest of his coffee, then crushed the cup and tossed it toward the trash can and vaulted back over the counter. "Thanks for the coffee," he said with an insincere wave.

"S'il vous plaît revenir," the waitress said equally insincerely, adding a sarcastic curtsy.

Alucard nodded at Makoto to follow Sougen and Soryuu out before placing payment for Sougen's coffee on the counter and stepping outside as well. The group was together again, including even the succubus though she stood some ways away and magically disguised as a human.

He'd made a few quick calls while in the back of the café and had some information, so he addressed the group before they started off. "I received some information that a man looking similar to Naoya passed through here recently. He was going south."

The dhampir was familiar enough with the streets so he took the lead, but it was only a surprisingly short walk before he noticed a green-robed figure dart into an alley. Alucard broke into a run, but as they approached a purple-suited figure stepped out.

Both his aura and smile were odd, and he addressed no one in the group in particular when he spoke. "Well, quite the group we have here...don't we?"

"Who are you?" Alucard demanded.

The man didn't respond immediately, just looking them over. He smiled wider and turned to walk down the street. "The person you are looking for...I've seen him. He went towards the nearby high school."

Now if that wasn't suspicious, there was nothing that was. "What is it that you want?" Alucard asked.

Seemingly ignoring the question, the man kept walking, reaching the corner before stopping. "Oh, and the shrine is a decoy...I wouldn't bother with it if I were you." He said before disappearing around the corner.

The group moved up quickly and turned the corner, but the man was gone. Alucard was certain now that the man was no normal human, as there was nowhere he could have escaped to in such a short time.

"Think he was lying?" Makoto asked Alucard.

"There is no way to know, except to follow his directions and see." Alucard said, his eyes half-closed in thought. "We have no better leads as it is."

"Wait, no, stop, wait." Sougen spoke up, planting his feet and crossing his arms. Alucard turned to face him. "And just what are we doing? What's the plan here?"

"We must locate this man, Naoya," he said calmly.

"Yeah, why?"

Arikado's eyes narrowed, annoyed slightly by the question. "We must retrieve the boy. Time is of the essence." This era was too close to his own for him to risk giving out the full story.

Sougen didn't budge, however. "It's a *kidnapping*. I don't care about that kid, he was a moron. Why does one guy suddenly matter so much?"

"He is more than that. This is an order: you are to consider this as important as Castlevania's appearance." Alucard kept his gaze on Sougen.

"What are you hiding, Arikado...?" the werewolf asked, his voice trailing off.

"I might ask you," Alucard replied, looking to the succubus behind Sougen.

Sougen spun as the succubus walked tentatively forward, still disguised as a blonde lady in red and black. "Oh, about her! Uh, I, met her before we investigated the castle. She–" Sougen started, doubtless trying to make up some story.

"Stop that," she interrupted. She gave Sougen a light warning look, then fixed her gaze on Alucard. Her gaze held a determination that Alucard did not expect, but he did not falter.

"I'm here to help," she said simply.

"Your kind are known for your deception," Alucard spoke truthfully, testing her.

She twitched. After checking that there were no townspeople around, she dropped the disguise. Just the demon stood before them, wings spread, clawed feet hovering just off the ground. "I had no choice before. I'm choosing to help now." In a flash, she was back in her disguise before anyone happened by.

"A summoning contract?" Soryuu suddenly spoke up.

The succubus turned her head slightly before nodding.

Soryuu turned his gaze to Alucard, who kept his eyes firmly on the succubus. "A summoning contract would have bound her life to the cultists' orders," he explained. "And from what I remember," he glanced at Sougen and the succubus. "She wasn't exactly fighting her hardest against us." Soryuu looked to Alucard again. "I think we can trust her." He paused. "...Or at least, not mistrust her."

Alucard's expression did not change and he silently considered the hunter's words. From his estimation, Soryuu was probably the most level-headed, though doubtless still naïve in his youth. But Alucard was not without faith himself, and so he resolved to accept their judgment for now. "Very well then."

It was several blocks later that the party reached the school they had been directed to: Seijō High, by the nameplate on the gate. Just as they rounded the corner, however, Soryuu to quickly ushered the group backwards at the sight of a dark-haired girl Alucard didn't recognize.

"We have a problem," he said quickly.

"What is she doing here?" Suzu asked rhetorically, sounding very annoyed. "It's the middle of summer break."

Alucard was silent for a moment. He could only assume that this girl was another of the pair's friends that didn't know about demons. Naturally, leading a large group into the school would be suspicious, so it would be best if they could sneak up undetected. "Perhaps someone could distract her. Then we can move the group past without arousing suspicion."

Soryuu nodded in agreement. "That would work..."

Suddenly, Soryuu's phone went off, indicating that it had received a text message. He pulled it out and scanned the contents. "Damn it, Keiko..." he mumbled to himself as he replaced his phone.

Makoto spoke up quickly. "I've got an idea. I'll try to Charm her for a bit so you guys can get past, then I'll get away somehow and meet up with you guys."

"What!?" Suzu exclaimed before quickly dropping her voice. "You can't-!" she tried to grab his arm, trying to stop him, but Makoto sidestepped it and dashed through the gate.

Alucard stepped up and held his arm out in front of Suzu to keep her from following after Makoto. "Let him go."

Soryuu and Suzu grudgingly accepted his advice and quickly followed back and around the schools' walls, where Alucard motioned for everyone to scale them. Luckily, the wall was mostly decorative and not so tall as to prevent Soryuu from jumping and mantling onto it.

Sougen did the same, leaping up and pulling himself over the wall in one smooth motion, while Alucard just cleared the wall in a single jump.

"We can get in through the door around that corner," Soryuu noted, mostly for Alucard and Sougen's benefit. He looked down to see Suzu attempting to get over the wall the same way he had, but was failing as her heels couldn't get proper traction against the wall. Soryuu wondered why she kept wearing the things, as they weren't exactly suited to combat. "Grab on," he said, offering his hand to her.

She made an annoyed sound but did so anyway, doubtless not seeing any other method to overcome the predicament. Unfortunately for them, Soryuu had failed to properly calculate how he'd brace himself on the thin edge he was perched on, and so while he did managed to pull Suzu up, he did not manage to keep his balance. This resulted in the pair falling backwards off the wall and crashing into a heap in the grass.

"Um, are you–" Soryuu started to ask, feeling his face heating up, but Suzu cut him off, jumping up off him as though she'd received an electric shock.

"What was that supposed to be, you idiot!? You should've been paying more attention...!"

"I know, sorry," he said as he got to his feet, not really sounding put off by Suzu's ferocity.

"We should move," Alucard supplied helpfully as he moved for the entrance Soryuu had indicated earlier.

Suzu growled but didn't add anything, following after the dhampir and into the school.

Soryuu looked thoughtful as they stood before the hallway they'd entered into. "I guess we're going to have to search the entire school, then..."

Alucard was considering ordering the group to split up, as he didn't sense anything going on, but Suzu spoke up. "We should check on the second floor." Everyone looked to her as she continued. "There's a room up there that had some kind of demonic portal in it a while back. If that Naoya is looking for something here, that could be it."

Alucard nodded and let her lead the way.

"A while back? When was that?" Soryuu asked.

"Ten years," she said simply.

As everyone approached the classroom, Alucard sensed a slight aura of darkness and summoned his weapon. Suzu and Soryuu must have as well as they followed suit quickly.

Naoya looked up from a laptop as everyone burst into the room, not looking quite surprised but rather annoyed. It seemed as though he'd set up some kind of computer system on one of the tables there, and Alucard saw Soma lying against the far wall, unconscious. Besides that, everything in the classroom had been pushed aside, leaving it seeming large and empty.

"You're early," was Naoya's only remark. Then there was series of clicks as he hit a few keys.

There was a rush of dark energy from nowhere, and a blinding flash of light that filled the room. The light seemed to have some kind of mass behind it, as Alucard had to steady himself against it. When everything cleared, Alucard barely managed to bite back a gasp.

"If limited life is God's decree, then I will have immortality..." A dark, foreboding voice came from the tall cloaked figure now standing in the middle of the room. "I am the Dark Lord Dracula."

* * *

_Dracula is such a poet._

_God has taken my love from me  
And so I swear revenge to thee  
If limited life is His decree  
Then I will have immortality  
_

_Several pages worth of content was written regarding the Alexei illusion scenes for all the characters but unfortunately you only get to see maybe a quarter of it because Alucard comes in at the end. :( If anybody actually wants to read about non-CV characters then go ahead and ask me to post them, otherwise just tell me what was funny and what was not worth talking about._


End file.
